Object of Affection
by Armbar Nation
Summary: Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon fall in love at first sight when they begin to work together in 1999. There are two problems: Paul is in a relationship and Stephanie's father has no intention of seeing his daughter dating a wrestler. Can they overcome these obstacles and more to build a family together and find happiness?
1. Chapter 1

Paul 'Triple H' Levesque was standing backstage talking to his friend Sean 'X-Pac' Waltman the first time he saw her. His attention was attracted by the sound of his boss' distinct and gruff voice as he spoke to another wrestler. Paul glanced in the direction of the voice and saw not only Vince McMahon but also next to him the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

As the pair walked past him he took in her stunning blue eyes, her long, straight, brown hair, her shapely legs and her skirt and top, neither of which left much to the imagination. He felt a strange feeling in his chest that he had not experienced before as he watched them, specifically her, disappear around the corner. He finally noticed the sound of his friend clicking his fingers next to the side of his head, "Hello? Paul? Hello? What planet are you orbiting around?" He turned to Sean and asked, "Was that McMahon's daughter?"

He got a laugh in response, "No it's his sister you asshole, of course that's his daughter. Stephanie."

Paul did not say anything but Sean laughed again, "Don't let Jo see you looking at her like that, she'll kill you." He was referring to Paul's girlfriend Joanie but Paul still was not listening, "Why is she here?"

Sean sighed, "Why do you think she's here? You know the storyline they've got going on with the Undertaker terrorising McMahon and his family. She's probably going to debut tonight I'd guess."

"Right, of course." Paul could not get the image of the woman out of his mind. He wondered what was wrong him. He already had a girlfriend and he was truly in love with her. He shook his head to try to clear it and focus on the conversation before he looked even stranger in front of his friend.

* * *

He spoke to her for the first time later that night. He had gone to fetch himself some coffee from the catering area. He was pouring himself a cup when suddenly as if from nowhere she was next to him. She looked considerably different to the first time he had seen her, she had redone her makeup much more conservatively and was now wearing a blue jumper and cream pants. When she spoke her voice was soft and shy, "You're Triple H, right?"

Paul finished pouring his cup of coffee and stepped aside so that she could take her turn, "Hi... yeah that's right... Paul."

She gave him a shy smile, "Stephanie McMahon, nice to meet you." He thought the smile was beautiful as he noticed the way the sides of her nose creased slightly as she did it. He realised that he had left it a second too long before replying, "Nice to meet you. So, you're on the show tonight?"

Stephanie finished pouring a cup of coffee and started on a second, presumably for Vince, "Yeah, like my costume?" He thought how much more he had liked what she was wearing when he had seen her earlier but replied, "It's uh... great."

She gave a little laugh, "No it isn't it's terrible. I need to look like a sweet, innocent little girl apparently." Paul resisted the temptation to ask if that was what she was really like. Aside from that he could not think of a response at all. He was not usually like this around people but there was something about this woman that made him nervous. He took a mouthful of the incredibly hot drink to cover for the fact that words had deserted him.

Stephanie had finished pouring the second drink and added sugar and milk to it, "I'd better get this back to my dad. We need to run over our script for the millionth time."

Paul smiled, "Good luck, it gets easier after the first night." She smiled shyly again as she walked past him, "Thank you, Paul." He felt that strange feeling in his chest again and again wondered what the hell it was. As he turned to head back to his locker room he saw his girlfriend marching towards him a few yards away. As she approached she demanded, "Who is that?"

"Huh?" His response sounded incredibly dumb.

"Don't huh me. The girl you were just talking to who was batting her eyelashes at you. Who was it?" Joanie stood with her hands on her hips, her muscular figure tense with anger. Paul wondered why she was always so insecure about things like this, whatever this was as he replied defensively, "That's Stephanie McMahon. She wasn't batting her eyelids at me, she introduced herself and I wished her good luck as this is her first show."

Joanie walked over and started to make herself a coffee. She banged the cup on the table as she did so, clearly indicating that she was still not happy. Paul should have left the conversation there but her attitude pissed him off, "What's wrong with you? A woman introduces herself to me and you go off the deep end? That's not normal Jo."

"Go away from me Paul." Clearly Joanie was pissed off. Paul was glad to fulfill the request and go away. He trudged back to his locker room and again the image of Stephanie's smile entered his head. It was incredible.


	2. Chapter 2

_Please note: Any disparaging remarks made by characters in this story do not reflect my own opinions of the people concerned, especially Andrew 'Test' Martin. May he rest in peace._

* * *

Paul saw Stephanie around the backstage area several times over the next few weeks but the opportunity to talk to her did not present itself. She seemed to spend most of the time with her dad or her brother and Paul was with Joanie. He certainly could not speak to her while Jo was around, that was obvious after the first time.

The second time he spoke to her arrived in similar circumstances to the first, only this time he walked up to her as she was making coffee, "Hi Stephanie." She turned and smiled, not so shyly this time. She was obviously getting used to being around the wrestlers now, "Hi Paul. Hey, I just got my first storyline!" She beamed as she finished saying it.

Again he got that strange feeling in his chest, "That's great! What is it?"

"I'm working with Andrew." Paul spent a moment trying to figure out who the hell Andrew was. Eventually he realised, "Test? Seriously?"

Stephanie beamed again, "Cool huh? We're going to start dating and he's going to ask me to marry him." Maybe it was jealousy that made Paul's response sound the way it did, "I'm pleased for you Stephanie but Test? That guy has less charisma than Steve Blackman."

This drew a different kind of smile and a raised eyebrow, "You're mean."

Paul realised how he had sounded, "Sorry, it's just, this is obviously going to be a big storyline, I just don't understand why he got it?"

"Don't ask me," she shrugged, "I only just found out about it. He seems like a nice guy though." She had finished making her drink, "I need to get back, see you around?"

"Definitely, congratulations again." As she walked away Paul mumbled to himself, "They put her with that ugly, talentless prick? God damn it."

* * *

Paul avoided Stephanie as much as possible over the next few months because he had realised he was incredibly attracted to her and he knew that this was a bad thing. Every time they spoke she would smile at him and he would get that strange feeling in his chest. He wanted to be with Joanie and he felt guilty every time he saw Stephanie and felt the way he felt about her. Joanie seemed to have forgotten about it as she did not mention Stephanie again after that first day. Things all changed one night in October. Pat Patterson walked into Paul's locker room and said in his strange accent, "Vince wants to see you. They've got a new storyline idea."

Paul raised his eyebrows and asked anxiously, "What do you mean a new idea? I'm already feuding with Vince. Don't tell me they're dropping it? It's the biggest thing we have going right now!"

Pat slapped him on the shoulder, "You think I know what this is about? I just got told to come fetch you. All I know is he's got a couple of guys from creative in there with him as well as Shane, Test and Stephanie." This got Paul's attention. What could possibly involve him in that discussion? He got up and followed Pat to some kind of conference room. There was a long table in there with chairs arranged along either side. Vince and Shane were seated on one side with Test, Stephanie and two guys from the creative team on the other side.

Everyone greeted him as he entered and Shane pulled the chair next to him out from under the table for Paul to sit. It meant that he sat down opposite Stephanie which was nice, especially as she was not in her 'costume' yet. They exchanged a smile but Paul carefully turned his attention to Vince as he began the meeting, "Right, now we're all here... We've decided that we need to do something different with this Test and Stephanie angle. It's not drawing as much as we thought. We're thinking it's all too... how can I explain it? It's all going too well."

Test did not seem pleased, "People like it Vince, the match I had with Shane at Summerslam got a good reaction. I think people are genuinely pleased for Test and Steph and the wedding will draw big time."

Vince assured him, "This isn't a reflection on your work Andrew, or yours Steph. We just think it will be better to take this down another path." Paul had listened interestedly up to this point, waiting to find out why he was in this meeting. Shane spoke next, "What I suggested, and I'm just putting this out there for comment, is that as Triple H has... issues with Mr. McMahon... maybe we have him interrupt the wedding?"

Paul liked the idea. He looked around at everyone else. Test did not seem pleased, clearly he wanted things to carry on the way they had originally been planned. He could not read the expression on Stephanie's face, maybe she was still considering it. He realised that he should have been the one to speak next, "I like it but... Triple H interrupts the wedding and... what?"

After a moment of silence Stephanie stunned the room, "What if Stephanie married Triple H instead?" There was another pause, Paul tried to convince himself that he had just heard her correctly but quickly she spoke again, "No, stupid idea. Everyone knows Steph loves Andrew, it would look stupid."

Test unhelpfully chipped in, "Maybe we should just leave it the way it was?" No one responded to that. A crazy idea came to Paul, "Okay, I have an idea. If you think it's stupid just say so. What if Stephanie married Triple H but she didn't know she did it?"

Stephanie laughed, "What?"

After a few seconds Vince said, "You know, I like that."

Stephanie smiled in confusion, "But how? How can you not know you've married someone? I don't see it."

Paul warmed to his idea, "What about if Stephanie was drugged or something? And Triple H took her to one of those drive through marriage places, you know like they have in Vegas."

Shane laughed, "Yes! I can see that. There's only one problem, she's obviously not going to say 'I do' is she?"

Test chirped up again, "It sounds stupid to me guys." Again he was ignored as Paul agreed with Shane, "That's the one problem, I agree. It may sound a little stupid but what if Triple H like... said it for her?"

Stephanie laughed again, "What do you mean?"

"I'll show you. Vince?"

Vince agreed, "Yeah, go for it."

Paul got up and walked around to the other side of the table and spoke to the guy from creative who was sitting next to Stephanie and taking notes on the discussion, "Can I just sit there?" The guy vacated the seat and Paul sat next to Stephanie, "Okay so we're in a car obviously as it's a drive-thru wedding place. I'm driving and Steph is kind of leaning against me, like she's tired. Of course we know she's drugged. Steph could you just..." He moved closer to her and she rested her head on his shoulder as if she was asleep on him. He put an arm around her and smelled her perfume and the shampoo she had used. She smelled so good. He focussed back on his idea, not wanting to lose his train of thought, "Okay so uh... Shane you do the... service thing."

Shane smiled, clearly he liked this idea, "Ok uh... Stephanie do you take Hunter to be your husband?"

Paul replied from the side of his mouth in a terrible impression of a woman's voice, "I do." Everyone apart from Test laughed and Vince said, "You're right, it does sound stupid but I love it."

Stephanie sat back upright in her chair. Paul thought that it had been nice while it lasted as she spoke, "I like it too. So we're saying we shoot this beforehand and Triple H interrupts the wedding and puts this footage on the Titantron? Wait a minute. How does Steph get drugged and end up in Hunter's car?" No one had thought about that. After a pause Vince clicked his fingers, "The bridal shower. Triple H gets someone to put something in Steph's drink."

Paul nodded, "Yes. That would work, we could air segments on that too."

Vince asked the creative guys, "You've got enough to write this up?"

"Yes, sir."

Vince asked the room as a whole, "Everyone agreed on this?" Everyone nodded including Test although he seemed to do so reluctantly.

Vince spoke again, "Right, everyone out. I've got something to discuss with Shane and Steph." Stephanie gave Paul another of her beautiful smiles as he stood to leave. It was only at this point that the obvious problem hit him. He was going to have to tell Joanie about this new idea.


	3. Chapter 3

As Paul headed back to his locker room he knew that the conversation he was about to have was not going to be pleasant. If Joanie had been pissed off to see him having an innocent conversation with Stephanie then she certainly was not going to like the fact that he was going to be working with her every week and marrying her on screen.

Not only did he relish the possibility of getting to know Stephanie better but also he realised that this could be huge for his career. It was true that he was currently in the headline feud with Mr. McMahon but the fact that they had given this angle to him really showed him that they believed he would be one of the top guys in the company for the future. Surely Joanie would be happy for him about that? As he walked into his locker room he saw Joanie was sitting in there waiting for him. She greeted him with, "Where have you been? I've been looking all over."

He sat down next to her, "Vince had me go to a creative meeting. He kind of dropped it on me without warning to be honest." He saw a trace of suspicion on her face. Why did he always seem to doubt what he said lately? "A creative meeting about what? I thought you had this rivalry with him worked out already?"

Here we go he thought as he carefully answered, "Well yeah but we've kind of... added something to it." She actually seemed interested now, "Really? Added what?"

Paul realised that there was no way she was not going to lose it when she heard so he just said it, "Triple H is going to interrupt Test and Stephanie's wedding and reveal that he's already married her."

Joanie's eyes narrowed but she did not instantly explode as he had expected, "You're serious? That's what's going to happen?"

He nodded, "Yeah, this is a huge deal for me Jo. They clearly have huge confidence in me to give me this."

Her reply was cold, "Clearly. So you're going to be working with Stephanie McMahon?" He knew where this was heading but there was no way to avoid it, "Yes Jo, I am. Please don't tell me you've got a problem with that?"

Now she exploded, "No, you go ahead! I bet you fucking jumped at the chance? 'Yes Vince, whatever you say Vince. I'd love to Vince,' She added mockingly.

Paul tried not to let his own anger get out of control, "I knew you'd react like this. You can't be happy that I've got this huge opportunity in my career can you?"

She snorted, "Fucking career? I've seen how you look at that little bitch." Wondering if this was actually true Paul asked, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't insult me Paul. Every time she's around you get a look in your eye. Don't think I've not seen it." Again he was not sure if this was her paranoia or a statement of fact, frankly there was an equal chance of either being the case. "For fuck's sake what's wrong with you? I've only ever spoken to her a handful of times."

Joanie screamed, her cheeks reddening, "Whatever, Paul! Just fucking do whatever! I'd tear that little slut in half if it wouldn't cost me my job." Paul could not help coming to Stephanie's defence at that, "How is she a slut? You don't even know her. Have you ever even spoken to her?"

This managed the seemingly impossible task of making Joanie even angrier, "You're going to defend her to me? Fuck you Paul, I'm out of here. Go back to your slut." She slammed the door hard on her way out.

"That went well," Paul told himself sarcastically. He got changed into his wrestling gear and sat back down as he thought about what he could possibly say or do that would make things right with Joanie. He did not come up with much. A few minutes later there was a knock on the locker room door, "I'm not having another shouting match with you," He yelled but he did so he realised it was stupid, if it was Jo she would have slammed back through the door and started into him, she definitely would not have knocked.

The door opened and he saw that it was Stephanie who had knocked. "Uh... is this a bad time? I can go?" Paul thought he had seen her look him up and down, or had he imagined it?

"Yes, I mean no, come in."

She walked in and stood over him. He realised she was taller than a lot of women, especially in her heels. Did he detect a hint of mischief in her voice as she asked, "Who are you expecting to shout at you?" He gestured to the empty steel chair next to him, "Sit down Steph. You don't mind if I call you Steph do you?"

She sat down with a grin, "No I don't mind but you answered a question with a question."

He sighed, "Joanie, my girlfriend. She flipped when I told her about this new storyline."

"Why would she do that?" Stephanie asked the question innocently and immediately Paul realised that she was toying with him but he enjoyed it, "She can be a strange woman sometimes."

Suddenly Stephanie grew serious as the subject seem to change wildly, "You're damn near the only person around here who doesn't judge me, you know that?"

Paul was confused, "What do you mean?"

"You speak to me like a person. I mean sure, everyone else says hi or whatever but they all think I'm a self-entitled bitch, it's obvious."

Paul wondered where this came from and where it was heading, "Why would they think that?"

"That's what everyone thinks, they always have. Just because your family has money people make assumptions about you." He realised that this really got under her skin and he guessed she had been waiting for a moment to share it with someone, "Well I don't assume anything. I'd like to get to know the real Steph."

She smiled for a second, "I'm sure you will." Then she was all business, "Anyway my dad sent me in here to say that he's looked through the schedule and we have a Raw in Vegas in November so they're going to write our storyline to start then." Apparently she was done so as she stood to leave Paul said, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too," she said as she left the room and closed the door. A few seconds after the door closed he heard a raised voice in the hallway, "What the hell are you doing?!" He knew immediately what had happened. Joanie had seen Stephanie leaving his locker room. He got and quickly headed for the door. As he did so he looked up to the heavens, "Give me a fucking break would you?"


	4. Chapter 4

Paul opened the locker room door and saw Joanie marching towards Stephanie who was a few yards away. Stephanie had just turned around, "Excuse me? Are you talking to me?"

Paul stood in Joanie's way and stopped her from approaching Stephanie. "Jo leave it, please! Go in the locker room and we'll talk." Stephanie had approached Paul from behind and demanded of Joanie, "What did you say to me?"

Paul turned around now, "Steph can you leave this to me? Please?"

"He's right, beat it," Joanie hissed.

Stephanie's nostrils flared as she snorted at Joanie, her disgust plain for all to see. The venom in her eyes left Paul in no doubt about three things; firstly Stephanie was definitely Vince's daughter, he'd seen that look from the old man before. Secondly Jo's card was marked and thirdly in about two minutes Vince was going to hear all about what a rude and insecure bitch Triple H's girlfriend was. "See you around Paul," Stephanie said sweetly as she turned and marched away.

Without waiting for a further reaction Paul practically manhandled Joanie into his locker room, "What the hell are you doing? You're going to cost yourself your job and you're going to ruin this for me at the same time."

"I was coming back to apologise to you and what do I see? Daddy's little girl sneaking out of your locker room!"

Paul sat down and put his head in his hands out of frustration, "Damn it Jo, she wasn't 'sneaking' anywhere. She came in here to tell me something about the storyline that Vince forgot to mention."

"Right, Vince's legs must have stopped working, clearly he's unable to get here himself to tell you." Joanie's voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Jo I don't want to argue with you about this. I've not even started working with Stephanie yet and this is how you're acting?"

Joanie sat down and took a few moments to try to calm down, "Paul you look me in the eyes and tell me you're not attracted to her." He took her hands and looked her in the eyes and lied, "I'm not attracted to Stephanie McMahon. I'm working with her and that's all. I promise."

Apparently satisfied she sighed, "I'm sorry Paul. I'll try my best to get past this. I don't want to argue with you either." He kissed her, "Thank you, I love you."

* * *

The next week Paul and Joanie had not been in the building for long when there was a knock on his locker room door. He shouted, "It's open."

The door opened and Stephanie walked in. She looked stunning as usual and he liked the leather pants she was wearing. "Hi Paul, we need you for a meeting. The creative guys have been working on our storyline. Can you come now please?" It did not escape anyone that she ignored Joanie completely but Paul said, "Yeah, sure. I can come now." As he stood he kissed Joanie, "I'll be back soon, okay?"

He got no response and Stephanie had already walked out of the locker room so he hurried to catch up. When he had done so he asked, "How are you Steph?"

"I'm fine." She seemed a little off with him. Surely she was not jealous that she had seen him kiss Jo? He told himself that he was imagining things again and asked her, "Do you know what this meeting is about?"

"We need to listen to what the creative guys came up with after last week's meeting."

As he walked slightly behind her he could not help glancing at her ass as she walked. He thought back to the week before when he had denied being attracted to her and felt guilty. What the hell was he doing? He did not want to lie to his girlfriend but he just could not be in the same room as Stephanie without feeling that strange feeling in his chest that he could not explain. He nearly walked into her as she stopped to open a door. He told himself to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. They walked into the room and he saw that it was a similar layout to the one they had been in the week before. This time there were only two other people in the room; Vince and a guy from the creative team. Vince greeted him warmly, "Hello Paul, take a seat."

Stephanie sat next to Vince so Paul took the seat opposite her. Vince spoke to the guy from creative, "Go ahead."

"Well we've pretty much gone with Paul's idea as he described it last week as far as the marriage is concerned. No one saw a reason to change any of that. What we've been debating is what happens after that." Paul realised that he had not thought about that at all. Triple H marries Stephanie and then what? He began trying to think of an idea as Vince asked, "What ideas do you have?"

"The one that has the most support is that Mr. McMahon faces Triple H in a match to get the marriage annulled. Somehow McMahon wins and sets his daughter free from the marriage. It's a happy ending."

"No, that's lame," Stephanie had spoken straight away.

Everyone looked at her and Vince asked, "Steph?"

"I don't like it. Why does McMahon win? Triple H should win, I mean if nothing else McMahon beating Triple H in a match looks stupid by itself."

Paul tried a joke, "She's right Vince, I mean look at you and look at me." Vince smiled but Paul could tell that he was thinking about what Stephanie had said. Eventually he said, "So just assuming Triple H wins the match, what then? Stephanie is stuck in a marriage she doesn't want to be in?"

Stephanie sounded deep in thought, "What if she does want to be in it?" Paul's eyes widened, where was she going with this? Vince was also clearly interested now, "Go on, tell us what you're thinking?"

"What if Stephanie costs her dad the match because she wants to be with Triple H?"

Paul spoke, "I like that. But why would she do it? Why would she turn on her dad?"

Stephanie had not thought that far ahead and silence descended on the room as everyone tried to think. Suddenly the guy from creative spoke, "The Undertaker thing."

Vince looked at him, "Huh?"

"When Vince had Undertaker kidnap Stephanie a few months ago. What if she didn't forgive him for it? What if she's hated him for it ever since?"

Stephanie's eyes had lit up, "Yes! That's it! Go write that up." Unused to taking direction from anyone apart from Vince the man looked for clarification. Vince ordered, "You heard her, get to work."

As the guy hurried out Paul said, "This will be really good. No one will see that coming. What's going to happen the next night though? How will Vince react to it?"

Vince said, "We'll go through that next week, one step at a time. I'm happy with what we've come up with today. As you know we're doing the wedding at the Raw show in Vegas, that's only three weeks away. I want the whole thing planned out by then so you two get your heads together and see if there's anything you can come up with for next week's meeting. I'll leave you to it." As Vince pushed his chair back and left the room Stephanie gave Paul one of those smiles he liked so much, "This is so much better than where they were going with the Test thing."

He smiled back, "What was the plan with that?"

"It was basically they get married and live happily ever after. So boring, no originality, no twist." He admired the fact that she had put the new idea together seemingly on the fly, clearly this girl had brains as well as good looks. He said, "You're right, your idea is a lot better than that. Any idea what happens next? I mean, Steph turns on Vince so what does he do?"

She took a minute to think and Paul tried to think also but he only succeeded in looking at her eyes and thinking how strikingly beautiful they were. He asked himself again why he could not be around her without thinking things like that. She interrupted his thoughts with, "What if he just didn't come back? What if he was so disgusted that he left? Stephanie would be in charge!"

"Yeah, okay," Paul laughed sarcastically, "As if Vince will go for that."

Stephanie gave a mischievous smile, "I can be very persuasive when I want to." He felt that feeling in his chest again and he finally knew what it was. He was lusting for her. He did not want to be but he was. Despite the revelation he managed to say, "I'll make a bet that you can't get Vince to agree to that idea."

She grinned, "You'll make a bet? Okay then, If he doesn't agree to it I'll give you a hundred bucks. But if he does..." She seemed to be thinking.

Paul laughed, "Come on then... if he does..."

"You must buy me dinner." Paul instantly knew it was a very bad idea but he heard himself say, "I'll make that bet."

Stephanie held out her hand to shake on the bet as she said, "And I don't mean at McDonald's!" He laughed as he shook her soft hand, noting that it was warm to the touch. A voice in his head demanded to know what the fuck he was doing and he realised that it was time to get out of the room and away from Stephanie before he said or did anything more stupid that what had already happened.


	5. Chapter 5

Paul deliberately avoided Stephanie on Thursday night at Smackdown as he had felt guilty all week at his realisation of how he really felt about her. He did not want to cheat on his girlfriend and he certainly did not want to leave her. They were in love and had been for years. He also had not been able to stop himself thinking about why Stephanie had made her side of the bet that he had to take her to dinner. Was she toying with him or did she genuinely have some interest in him? At least the one positive thing was that there was no way Vince would go for her idea. It was a pleasant evening with Joanie, without any sight or mention of Stephanie, the way things used to be. He made a decision. He was determined that he was going to be faithful to Jo, he would stop feeling the way he did about Stephanie. He would work with her and that would be all.

He arrived for Raw on Monday night with this fresh determination. He had just spent a few minutes watching Joanie training in the ring. She was putting in a lot of work as she was the first woman ever to hold the Intercontinental title and she needed to be at her best to compete with the male wrestlers in her matches. As he walked along the hallway heading back to his locker room he heard a familiar voice behind him, "My dad wants a word with you."

Paul turned around, willing her not to be smiling at him but of course she was a she teased, "You should hurry before you get into trouble."

Trying to sound businesslike he asked, "What does Vince want me for?"

Stephanie stood aside so that he could walk past her, "To tell you about the next part of the storyline. Last door on the right." As he walked past her he noticed a glint in her eyes. He was wondering what it meant until when he was a few paces away from her and she spoke again, "I have expensive tastes Paul, you should know that." He turned to ask her what that was supposed to mean but she was already walking away. Congratulating himself on the small victory that was the fact that he had not looked at her legs or her ass as she did so he headed for Vince's office.

As he walked in Vince got right down to business, "Ah there you are. Just to keep you up to speed, we've decided to go with the idea you and Steph came up with. Good job on that, it took her a while to talk me into it but on reflection I think it will be great."

Trying not to sound confused or stupid Paul worded his response carefully, "Thanks Vince, so uh... tell me exactly what you've put together." He was afraid that he already knew the answer and he was correct. Vince's eyes narrowed slightly as if he found the question a little strange, "As I said we've gone with the idea you and Steph came up with. McMahon is so disgusted with his daughter that he walks out on WWE leaving Stephanie and by association Triple H in charge."

Paul nodded his supposed satisfaction as he realised that he had lost the bet and now owed Stephanie dinner. Vince was still talking, "We can't really just have McMahon disappear after the match and not be seen again though. We're going to have to do a segment in the ring where Stephanie explains why she did what she did but apart from that your idea was very good."

"Thanks Vince." Paul was unsure as to why Stephanie had told Vince that he had helped to come up with this when in fact it had been her own work. Vince had one more thing to say, "This is a big responsibility Paul. Once this is underway you'll be the top man in this place. As you know Stone Cold is out for neck surgery after Survivor Series so the two guys will be you and Rock. Not only that you're a lot more experienced than Stephanie so you're going to have to help her at times too. Don't let me down."

Paul assured him, "I won't let you down Vince but I don't think Stephanie needs help from me. She seems to know what she's doing just fine."

Vince laughed, "Right, but she's too much like her old man. She's hot headed and stubborn and even I realise that that's not always a good thing so just do as I ask and keep an eye on her, okay?" Paul nodded and left the office. As began to walk towards his locker room he heard Stephanie's voice behind him again, "You owe me. We made a bet." He turned around and saw that she was leaning against the wall just outside of Vince's office. "Will you stop sneaking up behind me."

"I'm not sneaking anywhere," she clarified innocently, "I'm standing here. Like I said, you owe me."

Paul sighed, "Steph I can't take you out to dinner, okay? Jo would go crazy." She walked over and stood right in front of him, "Then we have a problem. You made the bet." He did not want an argument with her especially after what Vince had just said about her being stubborn and hot headed so he agreed, "Alright so I owe you dinner. I didn't say when. It will have to be when Jo isn't here for some reason. If she finds out about this we're both dead, okay?"

Stephanie pouted, "You don't think I could handle her?" Paul laughed at that, "Are you serious? Have you not seen her before?" One thing Stephanie definitely was not was a wrestler. She was slim and certainly not muscular. Seemingly insulted by his statement of the obvious she huffed, "Whatever, I've got to go get changed," and she marched away.

As he headed back to his locker room he tried to figure out what his reaction was to the fact that he had seemingly offended her. Eventually he decided that it was not a bad thing. Maybe he could get out of taking her to dinner, for a while at least.


	6. Chapter 6

Two weeks. Stephanie had avoided him for two weeks now. One throwaway comment and she avoided him for two weeks. It was driving him crazy. He expected Vince to come to him at any moment and tell him that Stephanie had pulled out of the storyline and that it had been cancelled. In fact that was exactly what he expected to hear right now. He had just been summoned to Vince's office. As if he was not busy enough preparing for his match. Tonight was Survivor Series and he had to drop the WWF title to Big Show in a triple threat match. He had no problem doing a job for another wrestler but Big Show as the champion? Seriously? He shook these thoughts from his mind as he walked into Vince's office. The first thing he noticed was that Stephanie was there. She gave him a big smile and greeted him sweetly, "Hi Paul."

What was this? She had spent two weeks avoiding him and now this? Or had she been avoiding him? Maybe she had just been busy? Or maybe she had been leaving him to realise how much he would miss her if she did purposely avoid him? Or was he making all of this up in his own head? Damn it, what was it with this girl? He tried to focus, "Hi Steph, Vince."

Vince nodded, "Paul, I know you're busy so we'll keep this quick. As you know the wedding is two weeks from tomorrow night, in Vegas. We're going to need to tape the bridal shower scenes and the scene at the drive-thru marriage place beforehand so I need you and Stephanie in Vegas on the Saturday night. Is that a problem?"

Paul realised that although it sounded like a question there was only one acceptable answer, "Of course, no problem."

Vince nodded again, "Good, I'll let you get back to it."

As Paul turned to leave he made eye contact with Stephanie and made a small gesture with his head to ask her to follow him out of the office. He closed the door as he left, hoping that she would follow. At least a minute went by and he was about to give up and leave when the door opened and she came out. When she had closed it she quietly ordered him, "Walk," and set of down the hallway. Clearly she did not want to talk outside of her dad's door. He caught up to her as she asked, "Are you okay? You've been avoiding me."

This took him completely by surprise, "I've what?"

"You've not spoken to me for two weeks Paul. If it's about taking me to dinner we can forget it, okay? I get the message."

Paul's head was spinning. She thought that he was avoiding her? And she was upset about it? He heard himself say, "No uh... I'm not avoiding you. And I'm not backing out of that bet either." Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked on without replying. He felt the need to fill the silence, "Steph, I'm sorry if you thought I was avoiding you. I really wasn't."

"If you don't want to work with me we can still back out of this. Maybe."

Hastily he said, "No. That's not what I want. I like you... Uh... to work with I mean." She stopped and looked at him with a slight amused looking smile and a raised eyebrow. "Isn't this you?" She asked. Paul realised that they were standing outside of his locker room and he had been paying so much attention to Stephanie that he had not even noticed. How embarrassing. "Right. Uh... Steph..."

She let him off the hook, "I know what you meant Paul. I think I'm going to enjoy working with you too. Good luck out there tonight." Determined not to watch her leave he hastily entered his locker room and closed the door. After he had closed the door he softly banged his forehead against it, "I just said I like you. God fucking damn it."

He sat down and found himself wishing that he knew what she thought about him. She was so hard to read. He was not sure if she had any interest in him. He did not even know whether she had been avoiding him or not. Maybe the whole thing had been deliberate to cause him to admit to both of them that he liked her? One thing he did know was that no matter what he told Joanie or even himself he could not stop thinking about Stephanie McMahon and in two weeks he would be working with her two nights each week and pretending to be married to her. He could not wait.


	7. Chapter 7

Paul had decided that he needed to talk to someone before he drove himself insane so he headed out to find his friend Sean. He found him in the men's locker room talking with Kane about their current rivalry. Paul walked over and greeted both of them, "Hi guys. Sean can I borrow you for a few minutes? I need to talk."

Sean was about to make a joke but he saw the serious expression on his friend's face, "Sure, we're about done here." He stood and slapped Kane on the shoulder, "See you out there."

Paul began to lead the way back to his locker room and Sean said, "We don't see much of you lately, since they gave you your own locker room."

Paul sighed, "It's nothing to do with having my own locker room. I've had some stuff going on and I've been keeping a low profile to be honest."

"Really, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you when we're in private."

Sean began to worry, "It's not Jo is it? Where is she anyway?"

"It's not her, not really. She's off working with Jericho on their match." They said nothing further until they had entered Paul's locker room and sat down. Sean encouraged, "Go on then, let's hear it?"

Paul realised that he had came this far but he did not know how to actually explain the problem, "Well the thing is... I don't know to explain. This has to remain between the two of us Sean, please?"

"Of course, but you haven't told me anything!"

Paul took a deep breath, "It's Stephanie. I think I'm falling for her."

He saw his friends eyes widen, "Dude, what the hell?"

"It's true. I can't stop thinking about her and you know me I'm always confident in talking to people but around her I'm a total idiot. I accidentally told her that I like her earlier."

Sean sighed, "Christ, Paul. You don't even know the woman. You're with Jo and you're both happy together. Everyone knows that."

"I know and I keep telling myself that and it's fine until the second I see Steph, I can't help myself."

Sean sounded frustrated, "That's not falling in love with someone Paul, that's finding someone attractive. Like I said you don't know the woman. Not only that but if you go anywhere near her Vince will fire your ass. You know what he's like."

Paul realised that his friend was at least partly right, he did not know anything about Stephanie. "So what's your advice?"

"It's obvious dude. Until you start your storyline with her stay away and sort your head out. That is assuming you want to be with Jo?"

"Of course I want to be with Jo."

"Have you had any indication from Stephanie that she's interested in you?"

Paul thought for a second and answered honestly, "I don't know. She seems to like to play games with me but maybe I just imagine it. Damn it I don't know."

Sean laughed, "Well I'd say you've got two weeks to figure it out before you start working with her."

Paul closed his eyes, "You're right. I'll stay away from her until next Saturday."

"Saturday?"

"We've got to film our wedding in Vegas and Vince arranged it so that we're doing it on the Saturday night."

Sean teased, "Take her out in Vegas, get drunk, who knows what might happen?"

Paul put his head in his hands, "Don't even say that."

* * *

Paul managed to avoid Stephanie for nearly the whole time until the Vegas trip. He had also managed to tell Joanie about it without her going crazy. He had promised that he would do the filming and then head straight back to his hotel room. As Jo would not be there he did not feel like going out into Vegas anyway. It was the Thursday before it was due to happen when Stephanie came to his locker room. There was a knock on the door and he yelled, "Come in."

Stephanie entered, wearing one of those ridiculously short skirts. It was impossible not to look at her legs. "Hi Paul. Do you have a minute?"

He gestured to an empty steel chair, "Sure."

She sat down and crossed her legs, "What hotel are you in Saturday night?"

Making sure to keep his focus on her eyes he said, "The same as you I'd guess. It was booked for me." He told her the name of the place and she nodded, "That's good. I'll have a car collect us and take us to the drive-thru wedding place that's been organised."

He smiled, "Sounds good." Her next question caught him off guard, "Are you looking forward to it?"

"To Vegas? Sure."

She gave him one of those smiles, "I meant to working together."

"Oh, right, yes of course."

She studied him for a moment, "You're not at all what I expected, you know that?"

"What do you mean?" Again that unaccustomed nervousness had entered his voice.

She grinned again, there was humour in it this time, "You're one of the top guys here and yet you seem so nervous all of the time. You can be at ease around me Paul."

He stopped himself from saying, "I wish I could," and went instead with, "Right." She uncrossed her legs and stood, "I'll see you Saturday then?"

He stood to show her out of the locker room, "For sure." As Stephanie left and walked down the hallway he found himself looking at her legs and ass again. She turned around to say something and caught him. Instead of saying whatever it was she was going so say she just looked at him for a few seconds and then he saw her bite her bottom lip suggestively. She turned and carried on walking.

He closed the locker room door, sat down and groaned aloud, "Shit! She caught me. And she responded to it, now what am I going to do?"


	8. Chapter 8

Today was the day and now was the time. In fact five minutes ago was the time. Paul was waiting in the lobby of the hotel for Stephanie as was the car driver. Where was she? Right at that moment he saw her emerge from the elevator and head towards him. She was dressed in what she referred to as her 'costume'. Her more conservative clothes and makeup that better fitted her on screen character. Obviously it did not make her any less attractive but he still felt a little disappointed. As she approached him she said, "I'll be glad when this is over."

Paul was not sure what it was that she wanted to be over. Did she mean tonight? "What?"

"Sorry, I meant playing this character. Doing my makeup and changing so many times each night, it's such a drag."

He smiled, "You look great Steph, what's wrong with the way you're dressed?"

She laughed, "Shut up. I look like I'm a thirty year old house wife for god's sake."

Paul led the way towards the exit and the car driver joined up with them, complaining as he did so, "We need to hurry, we're going to be late." Apparently Stephanie took this as sarcasm relating to her punctuality as she barked at him, "Why don't you worry about driving the car and let me worry about what time it is?"

Paul tried to hide a grin. Something about the way she spoke aggressively turned him on. But then so did everything else that she did. As they got outside they approached the car and the driver opened his door to get in. Stephanie barked again, "Hey! Open my door first! Do you have a clue how to be a professional driver?" As he scurried over full of apologies Stephanie winked at Paul to let him know she was only doing this to put him in his place for his earlier ill considered remark. Paul felt sure that the lesson had been learned and he tried not to laugh. When they had gotten comfortable in the back of the car he whispered, "I think you showed that guy."

Stephanie giggled and he saw those little creases that appeared on the sides of her nose when she smiled. He found it insanely attractive and he had the urge to kiss her. He told himself not to be stupid. They chatted about work and about the storyline as they travelled and he was surprised to begin to feel at ease around her.

* * *

They got to the drive-thru wedding place and filmed the wedding scene in only two takes. Stephanie ruined the first one by laughing while she was supposed to be asleep. They both got out of the car they had used to film the scene and she asked, "What now?"

Paul shrugged, "Back to the hotel I guess. Where is that car driver?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow, "We're in Vegas Paul. We have our own car and driver and I can put anything we do on expenses, within reason at least, and you want to go back to the hotel?"

Paul hesitated, "Well I..."

She twisted the knife, "In any case I'm hungry and someone owes me dinner." He considered it. He had made the bet and lost and he had promised he would take Stephanie to dinner when Jo was not around. Also he was hungry. He admitted, "Well, I did make the bet."

She grinned, "You did and you lost."

"Where would you like to eat? I mean we don't have a reservation anywhere and you said you only like expensive places."

She laughed, "I was fooling with you, idiot. I don't mind where we eat, it's the company that interests me."

Paul's mind went into overdrive. Holy shit! What was that supposed to mean? He stumbled, "Right. The hotel had a nice looking restaurant."

"I suppose that will be easier. It won't be hard to drag you to your room after I drink you under the table."

He laughed now, "That's never happening. Come on, let's get out of here." They went and found the car driver and headed back to the hotel. Paul went to head straight for the restaurant but she stopped him, "What are you doing?"

"Uh... going to eat?"

She raised that inquisitive eyebrow again, "Seriously? You're not going to change? I know I am. I'll meet you down here in an hour." Realising that he had made himself appear stupid again he said, "Of course, change, right. Sorry, I'm too hungry to think properly."

Stephanie led him towards the elevators. "Uh huh." They way she made the sound let him know that she knew perfectly well what the reason was that he was not thinking properly. They entered the elevator, Paul pushed to button for the third floor and asked, "What floor are you on?"

"Ten."

"Top floor huh? Daddy looked after you."

Her face fell and her voice quietened, "Don't do that Paul." Realising his mistake and remembering her previously telling him about her insecurities about how people thought of her he said, "Sorry Steph, it was just a poor attempt at humour."

She said nothing and the elevator stopped on the third floor. The doors slid open and he said, "I'll see you in an hour then?" Again she did not reply as the doors slid closed. He headed for his room and cursed himself, "Fucking idiot."

* * *

Paul took a shower and dressed in a pair of smart pants and a shirt that he had brought just in case. He headed down to the restaurant to wait for Stephanie, half expecting her not to show up after his stupid comment had offended her. He briefly considered heading back to his room but that realised that would not be an option as she emerged from the elevator. She was not wearing the kind of thing she usually seemed to go for, instead she was wearing a dark blue dress that complimented her figure perfectly. She looked stunning.

She approached him and smiled, "You don't look too bad when you make an effort."

"I was about to say the same thing."

She pouted but he knew that she was pretending, "A real charmer too."

Paul laughed and Stephanie linked her arm with his as they walked into the restaurant. He glanced at her as she walked next to him and thought that he could get used to this.


	9. Chapter 9

Taking a girl out to dinner was not something that Paul had done often, certainly not one who was presumably accustomed to the finer things in life like Stephanie. He hoped that he would not embarrass himself. They were approached by a server and Paul asked for a table for two. They were led to a table and Paul decided it would be good manners to pull Stephanie's chair out for her. As she sat down she giggled and Paul also saw a little grin on the face of the server. Maybe that was over the top for a place like this? As he sat he heard Stephanie say, "Excuse him, we got married today."

Paul was surprised and felt himself smiling. The server said, "Oh! Congratulations. Honeymoon in Vegas huh?"

Stephanie grinned, "Something like that."

"Considering the occasion I recommend this wine..." He showed her on the wine list. "It's one of the most expensive but it's definitely the nicest we have."

Stephanie nodded, "Okay, get us that one. You drink wine Paul, right?" The server raised an eyebrow. Paul guessed that he was wondering why his 'wife' did not know what he liked to drink. He joked, "It's on expenses. Nothing is too good for my wife if I'm not paying for it."

"Uh.. I'll get your wine," The server sounded even more confused by this strange couple and walked hurriedly away.

Stephanie laughed, "You dare try putting this on expenses."

"You wouldn't know if I did," Paul reminded her mischievously but she grinned, "Wrong. I work in accounts. I can see all of your expenses if I want to."

"Really? I didn't know that."

Now was Stephanie's turn to be mischievous, "I can see everything, even those dirty movies you order in your hotel room."

Paul blushed and stuttered, "Uh... I don't, I mean I haven't... I don't order porn in my room!"

She giggled, "It must be your girlfriend then."

"Steph!" She giggled again and raised her hands and rubbed them together, pretending that they we cold. She held them out towards him, "Can I warm my hands on your cheeks? They're bright red!" Paul laughed as the server arrived with the wine. He poured a small amount for Stephanie to taste and she nodded. The server poured a glass for each of them and asked, "Are you ready to order?"

Paul realised that they had not looked at a menu yet. "Give us five minutes." The server nodded and walked away once more. Paul handed Stephanie a menu and then opened one for himself. He saw that the prices in this place were not actually too bad but he hoped the food would be nice enough for her. He noticed that she had not opened her menu, instead she was looking at him. He smiled nervously, "What?"

"You can order for me."

"I don't know what you like."

She grinned again, "Then let's hope you guess correctly." She seemed very happy in his company, she had spent most of the time smiling or giggling. It helped him feel at ease although he had no clue why she had insisted that he order for her. "What if I order something that you don't like?"

"I won't be happy."

"But you're happy now, right?" He asked nervously.

Stephanie smiled and this time he could tell that she was not playing with him, "Yes." He reverted his attention to the menu trying to decide what to order for Stephanie. His own decision was simple but now he was in a real tough spot. Before he knew it the server arrived again and he asked, "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes. I'll have the steak, well done. My wife will have... the fish."

The server left with the order and Paul searched for a reaction from Stephanie to give him a clue if he had ordered something she liked or not. He noticed that she was trying to hide a smile. After a few moments she failed and said, "You're good. I would most likely have ordered that myself."

Paul laughed, "Okay so I passed your little test. Now you have to tell me about yourself."

"I didn't agree to that," Stephanie pointed out slyly.

"Seriously Steph, please tell me about yourself. I like your company but I know nothing about you." She spent the next thirty minutes telling him about herself. Again he noticed how at ease she seemed to be in his company and he was glad she felt the same way that he did. When he had first me her he had feared that deep down she might be a spoilt little princess or even worse a total airhead but he was pleased to find out that she was neither. She seemed like a genuinely nice girl and she made him laugh so easily. He was actually disappointed when the food arrived and broke up the conversation. They made small talk over the meal and he noticed that she drank most of the wine. She declined his offer of dessert and sadly it was time to leave. He paid for the meal and they walked out of the restaurant, heading for the elevator and their rooms.

Stephanie said, "Thank you for tonight Paul. It's not often I get to enjoy something like this."

"You're more than welcome. We should do it again soon, I really enjoyed it. Next time it can be on expenses though, right?"

She laughed, "No. Next time it's on me."

They entered the elevator and as he reached to push the button for the third floor she gently slapped his hand, "Where are your manners? You escort the lady back to her room first." Instantly he was telling himself not to go into her room. He could escort her to it but he definitely could not go inside.

As they arrived on the tenth floor Stephanie led the way to her door. She put her card in the slot and when the light turned green she opened the door and stood in the doorway. She looked into his eyes, "Thank you again, Paul."

"My pleasure Steph."

She reached up and kissed him. She did not have to reach far as she was nearly as tall as him in her heels. She let the kiss linger for just a micro second longer than it should have if it was just a friendly gesture before saying, "Goodnight," and closing the door.

Paul stood there thinking about the kiss and the fact that it had lingered ever so slightly. He knew that he had not imagined it. He also knew that she had deliberately not invited him into her room. The question was whether he was pleased or disappointed about it. He considered it as he headed back to his room. Disappointed, definitely.


	10. Chapter 10

Paul entered his hotel room and lay down on the bed having decided to rest for a few minutes before he got ready for bed. He lay there thinking about what a nice night it had been. He rolled over to get comfortable and something dug into his leg. It was his phone. He had forgotten all about it and had left it on silent. He took it out of his pocket and saw that he had twelve missed calls and two text messages. He mumbled, "Twelve missed calls? Christ," and checked who they were from. There was one from his dad and the other eleven were from Jo. Again he mumbled to himself, "Oh god, she's going to go wild."

He checked the two messages. Both were from Jo, the first one was: Call me! and the second was: Call me! With a sigh he realised that the longer he left it the worse it would get. He called her number and did not have to wait long for an answer, "What the hell Paul? What have you been doing?"

He did not want to lie to her so he decided to be economical with the truth, "Sorry Jo, I've just been lying on the bed and my phone was on silent."

There was a snort on from the other end of the phone before some sarcasm, "I bet you have."

"You bet I have what?" Paul was already getting tired of this call.

"Lying on your bed for the last hour and a half. Lying there with that slut on top of you I bet."

Paul began to lose his patience, "Jo just shut up will you? You're being stupid now."

"Swear to me that Stephanie hasn't been in that room." Sure, he could do that, "I swear to you, Stephanie hasn't even been near my room."

"And you swear to me you haven't been in hers?" Yeah he could do that too, "I swear. I haven't been in Stephanie's room and she hasn't been in mine."

Joanie began to calm down but she warned, "You know that if I find out you're lying to me we're done?"

"Jo I've not lied to you. I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. Will you get a hold of yourself before Monday? I don't want this crap from you."

"I'm sorry Paul. I just miss you."

"Goodnight Jo." Paul ended the call and turned his phone off.

* * *

Stephanie was walking along a hallway attempting to find her brother to give him his script for tonight's Raw. Where the hell had he got to? That was when she noticed Paul's girlfriend Joanie in the distance. Stephanie stopped and watched her as she was doing some kind of warm up exercises as she wondered what on Earth Paul saw in the woman. She was seriously insecure and she looked like a man. And who the hell did she think she was demanding to know what Stephanie had been doing when she came out of Paul's locker room? Stephanie figured that she still owed the bitch for that and she had an idea. With that in mind she set off in Joanie's direction. She made sure that she was going to walk right past Joanie, there was no way that the larger woman would not see her. Sure enough as Stephanie got close she heard Joanie say coldly, "Stephanie."

Stephanie stopped and pretended that she had not noticed who she was walking past, "Oh hi! Uh.. your name... sorry it's gone?" It was unsurprisingly easy to get a reaction and there was anger in Joanie's voice as she clarified her name and demanded, "So did you have a nice time in Vegas with my boyfriend?"

Stephanie said sweetly, "Yes thank you."

Joanie laughed, thinking that she had the upper hand, "I already know he didn't go near you."

"I suppose that depends how you define near doesn't it?"

Joanie's eyes narrowed in obvious anger at the slyness in Stephanie's voice and she demanded, "What the hell does that mean?"

Stephanie spoke sweetly again, "Well we weren't any further apart than you and I are now... over dinner."

Joanie's cheeks reddened and Stephanie tried desperately not to grin. "You had dinner with Paul?"

"Paul bought me dinner yes," Stephanie helpfully clarified, "Anyway I have to deliver this, so I'll leave that with you." Stephanie walked away feeling Joanie's eyes burning into the back of her head. She was very pleased with herself now that she had gotten even with Joanie and also now that Joanie would suspect that Paul was interested in her.

* * *

Paul had just finished reading his script when his locker room door flew open and smashed against the wall. Before he realised what was going on Joanie stormed over, slapped him in the face and yelled, "Bastard!" He instinctively put a hand up to his cheek where she had hit him and yelled, "What the hell was that for?"

Joanie raged, "I just spoke to that little slut of yours and heard all about your little dinner date the other night. You're a real bastard Paul!" Unable to think fast enough he played for time. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? Try and think back Paul, all the way back to Saturday night. That's forty eight hours, I know it's a long time. There was a meal, you were there and so was Stephanie McMahon. Ringing any bells so far?"

Despite the obvious need to explain himself he could only wonder why Stephanie had told Joanie about the meal. What the hell was she doing? He had not replied and Joanie yelled, "What's the matter Paul? Can't think of more bullshit fast enough? I'll save you the trouble, don't talk to me again, ever!" She stormed out and slammed the door.

Paul sat down feeling dazed and mumbled to himself again which was becoming a new habit, "Thanks Steph. Thanks a lot."


	11. Chapter 11

Paul gave Joanie some time to calm down before heading out of his locker room to try to find her. Instead as he made his way along a hallway he saw Stephanie standing with Test. He guessed that they were talking about the show. As he approached he saw the Stephanie had noticed him and he heard her ask Test, "Give us a minute would you?" Paul saw Test turn and look at him and his expression was not friendly, clearly someone else who did not like him, not that Test's opinion mattered to him. Test walked away without speaking and Paul asked Stephanie, "Steph what did you say to Jo?"

Stephanie was immediately on the defensive, "She came at me with a bunch of questions about Saturday night."

"You do realise she's furious with me now, right?" She looked him in the eye and he found himself thinking again about how beautiful her eyes were. "I told your girlfriend the truth Paul, maybe you should try it?" He was surprised by that and before he came up with a response she continued, "Or better yet, tell yourself the truth first."

This confused him. "What does that mean?" She looked at him for a moment with a kind of quizzical expression and he knew then exactly what she meant as she said, "Really?"

"Steph... I..."

Stephanie reached up and whispered in his ear, "Tell her Paul. I'll see you later." He smelled her perfume and as she walked away he so desperately wanted to go after her and kiss her. He remembered the brief kiss they had shared outside of her room on Saturday and he wanted more, a lot more. He headed off again in search of Joanie and told himself that he had to stop this. He was with Jo, he loved Jo and yet he was thinking about kissing Stephanie. This was getting out of hand and it definitely needed to stop. Eventually he managed to find Joanie, talking with her on screen manager Stacy who was known as The Kat. As they saw him coming her saw Stacy whisper something to Jo and then she walked away to give them some space. As Stacy walked past him Paul thought he heard her mumble, "Asshole," but was not sure.

Joanie's voice sounded weary as she spoke before he could, "Paul just save your breath, okay? I don't want to hear more bullshit from you."

"I didn't lie to you Jo. You asked if Stephanie had been in my room and if anything had happened between us. I told you the truth about that." Her eyes narrowed, "Don't get cute with me Paul. You promised me nothing would happen that night and yet you bought her dinner and you deliberately avoided telling me about it."

"Only because I knew how you would react. Nothing happened Jo, we had a meal and that's all. I don't want anything to happen with Stephanie, I want to be with you."

"What do you mean you 'want' to be with me? You are with me."

"Am I? You told me to never speak to you again."

Joanie hugged him which surprised him a little, "Please just stay away from her Paul. She's bad news."

"I can't stay away from her, we're working together. Hell, I've got to go to a creative meeting with her any minute now."

"I really want to trust you Paul, I really do but if anything happens between you and her again we're done. We both need to understand that."

Paul kissed his girlfriend, "I understand. I'll work with her and that's all, I promise. In fact I swear. I love you Jo."

"I love you Paul."

* * *

Paul walked into the creative meeting and judging from the way that everyone looked at him he figured that he was late. Shane McMahon was in the meeting and he was first to speak, "Cancel the search party, here he is."

Paul apologised, "Sorry everyone, Vince. I was uh... I lost track of the time. Sorry." He sat down opposite Stephanie as that was the only free chair. He ignored her slightly raised eyebrow as Vince took charge of the room, sounding slightly irritated but he did not give Paul a hard time which was a relief. "Right, let's get on with it. We're here to talk about the match between Mr. McMahon and Triple H at Armageddon. We've got to work out the finish and exactly how Stephanie ends up with Triple H. Let's hear ideas."

Stephanie was first with a question, "We decided that Stephanie costs her dad the match, right?"

Vince nodded, "That's what we said but I'm not sure about it."

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked.

"I don't think Stephanie should get involved in the match."

"So how does she turn then? You're not making sense."

Shane cut in, "No, he's got something there. Picture this." He paused for a second presumably to run his new idea through again in his head. "Okay, picture this. We have Stephanie sit in the front row. She wants to watch her dad beat the man she hates so much, or that's what we think. At the end of the match Vince gets a weapon and he's about to bash Triple H's brains in with it. Let's say that it's that sledgehammer of yours Paul. As Vince is about to hit Triple H Stephanie appears in the ring and she asks Vince to let her hit Triple H with the hammer but when he hands it over she nails Vince with it instead?"

Stephanie smiled at there was a hint of mischief in it that Paul found very attractive. "I like that."

Paul had also had an idea, "What about if we make it more subtle than that? As Vince said maybe Steph shouldn't be involved in the match directly."

Stephanie began to object, "Paul..." but Vince interrupted, "I'll hear that idea."

"We go with Shane's idea up to the point where Steph has the hammer but she does try and hit Triple H with it but suddenly she hesitates as she can't bring herself to do it, again that's what we think anyway. Triple H seizes the opportunity and snatches it from her and he nails Vince with it and gets the three."

Vince asked, "Okay, so how does she turn?"

Stephanie clearly liked the idea too, "I've got it. She stands there looking at her dad as he lies there, like she's shocked that she caused him to get hit with the hammer. Triple H stands there staring at her as he knows there is nothing she can do to escape him now but suddenly she looks at him and she smiles. Then she walks over and hugs him."

Shane clapped his hands together once, "I love that. It's better than my idea."

Paul agreed, "I think that's perfect."

Vince said, "Right, we're agreed. I'll have it written up. Everyone happy with what's happening tonight?" Everyone was happy and the meeting came to a close. Paul got up and left quickly, making sure he got away before Stephanie could attempt to speak to him, if she intended to. He had made a promise to Jo and he would keep it. From now on it was only business between him and Stephanie. It had to be.


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: I was undecided on how to approach the first part of this chapter as I thought maybe I should cover it in more detail but eventually I decided that this is Paul and Stephanie's story not Paul and Jo's so I liked it better this way._

* * *

Paul had actually managed to do it. For the last few weeks he had worked his storyline segments with Stephanie and been to the necessary meetings where she was also present but on a personal level he had cut her off all together. He could tell that she was not happy about it but he was determined to make things work with Jo. He realised it would be harder after the Armageddon pay per view when they would actually be working together for the whole show every week but he would manage. He was so determined that the previous night he had asked Jo to marry him. If that did not show his commitment to her then what would? Jo had seemed shocked and delighted when he had asked the question and she had said yes. He had spent a small fortune on a ring for her and he remembered thinking as he put it onto her finger that if nothing else this would show Stephanie that he was not interested in her. Briefly he had wondered why he was thinking about Stephanie at a moment like that but whatever, he was over her.

* * *

Stephanie was heading back to her father's office after changing into her stupid costume and doing her makeup again. She was so sick of this, at least after this Sunday she would not have to do it any more. She could wear what she was comfortable in and look the way she chose, it would fit well with her new character. She had been really looking forward to it but less so as the weeks went by because Paul was pissing her off. He had stopped talking to her about anything apart from work and even though she had upped her efforts to make him interested in her it had not worked. He was still with that bitch Joanie. Just as she was thinking about Joanie she saw her approaching. This was all she needed, if Joanie got in her face now she was going to lose her cool.

Joanie smiled, "Oh hi Steph!" Not in any mood to chat to say the least and even less so with Joanie, Stephanie barked, "What do you want?"

Still with a big smile on her face Joanie encouraged, "Cheer up! I have good news!"

Stephanie made no attempt to hide her irritation, "I can't imagine anything you have to say being good news for me."

Joanie made her voice as sweet as possible, "Are you sure? How about if I told you Paul asked me to marry him?" Stephanie told herself not to react but he realised that she already had as Joanie was smirking at her and she said, "What was that phrase you used? Oh yeah, I'll leave that with you." Joanie marched off and Stephanie felt herself begin to boil. She was now determined; she would get that bitch out of her company no matter how long it took. She stormed off towards her father's office with a look of hatred on her face.

* * *

Paul and Joanie were getting ready to leave the arena after Raw had finished when Chris Jericho walked into Paul's locker room. He shook hands with Paul as they exchanged greetings and then he said, "Jo I actually came to see you. I just heard that uh... our match Sunday has been changed. I'm going over now."

Joanie's eyes widened in surprise, "They're giving you my title? The title I mean."

Chris shrugged, "That's what I've just been told. Don't shoot the messenger. I'll see you Thursday I guess?"

Joanie mumbled, "Yeah, see you."

Chris nodded his goodbye to Paul and left as Paul asked, "What was that about? You don't think he's done something behind your back do you?"

"No. This is McMahon, the fucking bitch." As she had said McMahon Paul had been about to ask why Vince would take the title off her so suddenly but as she completed the sentence he said, "That's a bit of a leap Jo, why would Stephanie do this? Hell, I don't think she even can make a decision like that."

"Don't be stupid Paul," Joanie growled, "We both know exactly what she can do. She can go running to daddy."

Paul was confused, "Okay so let's assume this was Stephanie for a second... why?"

Joanie closed her eyes, "I made a point of telling her that we are engaged earlier. I was hoping for a reaction."

Paul sighed, "For Christ's sake Jo. Well you got your reaction I'd say."

"I told you Paul, I told you she was a bitch."

"Why didn't you just leave her alone? Things have been going well but you just couldn't drop it could you? Now you've lost your title run and I'm probably going to be the next one on the receiving end. Really good job."

"I'm sorry Paul, it was stupid."

"Damn right it was," Paul said as he stormed out of the locker room.

"Paul! Wait!" Joanie hurried out of the locker room to go after him.

* * *

Out in the parking lot Stephanie sat in the McMahon family limo waiting for her dad to finish whatever the hell he was doing inside the building. She was getting more irritated by the second, she'd had enough of this place for one night and she wanted to get back to the hotel. She glanced out of the window and saw Paul and Joanie walking towards their car. It was obvious that they were having an argument. Stephanie watched them until they drove away and for the first time that night she smiled. There was trouble in paradise.


	13. Chapter 13

"Steph we need to talk." Paul said as he approached his soon to be on screen wife. It was Thursday night and they were backstage before Smackdown. She turned and looked at him, "Interesting the way you put that. I'd have gone with 'Steph I want to talk'."

Paul was confused by the words and her abrasive tone, "What?"

"You blank me for three weeks and then all of a sudden you need to talk about something and you expect me to be all ears?"

"I've not been blanking you Steph," Paul insisted even though it was at least partially true. Not really blanking but avoiding was what he had been doing.

"Now you're assuming that I'm an idiot."

Paul began to get frustrated, "I don't want an argument here."

"So what do you want Paul?"

"I'd like you to be honest. Did you have Jo's title taken from her?"

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

Paul felt his anger building, "Damn it Steph, why?" Her eyes glinted at him, "Relax Paul, she was going to have to drop the belt the next night anyway. I just sent a message that in my face is the wrong place for your girlfriend to be."

"I don't want all of this aggro between the two of you."

Stephanie shrugged, "Neither do I but as I said if she keeps getting in my face there's only going to be one winner." Paul realised he did not have much of a position to argue from as Joanie had been deliberately trying to piss Stephanie off and it had backfired on her so he asked, "So we can still work together with no problems?"

She moved closer to him and said, "The problems are yours Paul. I believe I've made myself perfectly clear to you." He knew exactly what that was supposed to mean, "Steph I'm engaged to Jo." Stephanie whispered, "I know, but does she make you feel like this?" She reached up and kissed him and she let it linger even longer than she had outside of her room that night. Paul felt that incredible lust again for the first time in weeks and it was now even greater than before. As she pulled away Stephanie said, "Don't answer that Paul, I don't need you to." He watched her walk away and he did not know how he managed not to grab her and kiss her again. He wanted her so badly that it hurt.

* * *

Stephanie walked away from the encounter with a smile on her face. She would get what she wanted in the end. She was a McMahon, she did not take no for an answer from anyone. She would take Paul for herself and then she would make sure Joanie was out of the picture for good. It would take time to get to the point where her dad would fire the bitch but Stephanie had already started to work on it and she would keep at it no matter how long it took. She had noted the look on Paul's face when she had just kissed him. He certainly had not expected it and she felt certain that he wanted more. She would not give him more though unless he came for it himself. She needed him to realise how much he wanted her and act on it himself. Of course if he did not she would have to keep working on him but she did not think that it would have to come to that. If only he was not with that ugly bitch things would be so much easier! They would be together eventually, she had no doubt about it.

* * *

Paul was psyched up for his match. This was the Armageddon pay per view and he was in the main event against Vince McMahon. Not only that but he would be walking out with Stephanie when it was over. He had not let Joanie's miserable mood spoil his preparations. She had been bitching about having to drop her title to Jericho and had actually gone and bitched to Vince about it too and he had compromised with her and put together some stupid angle about Jo and Chris both being the Intercontinental champion. What was that stupid nonsense? He knew that it would piss Stephanie off too when she found out. As he thought about Stephanie he saw her approaching, walking next to her dad just as she had been the first time he had seen her. She looked gorgeous but she looked so much better when she was not in character. As the pair reached Paul Vince asked, "You ready?"

Paul confirmed, "You bet. Good luck." The two men hugged and slapped each other on the back. After this was done Vince walked off, Paul guessed to get a last minute drink of water or something. Stephanie smiled and said, "We walk back here together. I can't wait."

He grinned, "Me either. You know everyone is going to hate you? The fans I mean." She grinned now too, "Good, this character bores me to death." After a few seconds of silence Stephanie playfully asked, "Don't I get one of those hugs for luck?"

"You need luck to sit in the front row and watch?" She pouted, "Without my part at the end this is all a waste of time. I'm the most important one here."

Paul laughed, "Is that right?"

"Don't you forget it." She was surprised by Paul hugging her and saying, "Well then, good luck." She considered kissing him but no, not now. Especially not with her dad nearby. She realised it had been a wise decision moments later as Vince reappeared, "Okay, here we go."

Stephanie was announced first as she walked through the curtain. It had begun.

* * *

The ending of the match worked out perfectly as they had planned it. As Stephanie crouched over her father pretending to check if he was okay Paul made like he was going to hit her with the hammer also but Stephanie looked around and caught him. She stood and looked at him in apparent shock but all of a sudden she smiled at him. Paul heard a guy in the crowd yelling, "Yeah! Yeah!" as everyone else groaned in disgust. Maybe he had seen it coming? Or maybe he just wanted Steph to be with Triple H? Stephanie walked over and hugged him and Paul feigned surprise.

Stephanie raised his hand in victory and they paraded around the ring before eventually heading for the back. After they got through the curtain Stephanie began laughing. Paul grinned and asked, "What?"

Her excitement was bubbling over, "Nothing, that was just great! This character is going to be so much fun!" Her excitement and enthusiasm were contagious and he found himself feeling it too, "I can't wait for tomorrow."

Stephanie asked, "What about tonight? Let's celebrate! Let's have a drink?"

"I'd love to Steph but you know I can't," Paul told her dejectedly, "I have to go back to the hotel to Jo and her bad mood."

"You don't 'have' to do anything Paul."

Paul seemed to be considering it but then they were interrupted by Vince walking back through the curtain. Paul walked over and hugged him and asked, "You okay?"

Vince assured them both that he was but he needed to get the cut on his head looked at as he had done a good blade job on himself. Stephanie give him a kiss on the cheek and he walked away. Before she could say anything more to Paul he said, "I need to get my shower out of the way and get out of here Steph. I'll see you tomorrow night?"

She tried her best to look as sad as possible, "Oh okay. Goodnight" Paul turned and walked away as she hid her rage well. God damn it, it had been so close. She had almost had him.


	14. Chapter 14

As Paul headed back to his locker room he found himself wishing that he had accepted Stephanie's offer to go out for a drink. He realised that he was really starting to lose control of his life. He had proposed to Jo and he really wanted to be with her but there was no doubt about it any more, he wanted Stephanie too. He was not the kind of bastard who would cheat on Jo with Stephanie, he would not let that happen. He would just have to tell Stephanie that they could not be together no matter what she wanted. It just could not happen and that was that. But how could he actually tell her? Things never happened the way he had planned when he talked to Stephanie. He got a surprise as he walked into his locker room, "Jo? I thought you would have left by now?"

His girlfriend smiled at him, "No I stayed to watch your match. I know what it meant to you and I'm sorry about earlier. I'm sorry about a lot of things honestly."

Paul was surprised to say the least by this sudden change in attitde, "What brought this on?"

"I was thinking about what happened the other night. You tried your best to avoid McMahon outside of your work commitments and then I went and pissed her off. At least it showed us both what a vindictive bitch she can be..."

"You're starting again Jo."

"Sorry. I'm not going to pretend that I don't hate her but I'm going to stay away from her. We both are, okay?"

Paul nodded, "Sure, I can do that. So did you enjoy the match?"

Joanie did not consider how quickly the subject had been changed, "Yes, you were amazing as usual."

"Thank you."

"Let's get out of here," Joanie urged.

Paul pointed out, "I didn't shower yet."

"Exactly, let's get out of here and we can shower together."

Paul grabbed his bag from the floor as he grinned, "That's an excellent idea." As they hurried out of the building Paul suddenly and inexplicably had an image in his head of what Stephanie might look like in the shower. He imagined standing in front of her as the water and shampoo ran over her breasts. Little droplets of water...

"Paul you walked past your car you dummy," Joanie ruined it by interrupting. He turned round, embarrassed at what he had just been thinking about. He mumbled, "Sorry. I was uh... thinking about the match."

* * *

Paul knew that he needed help big time, this was getting out of hand. He was actually fantasizing about Stephanie now. Well not now but... it happened again. Telling himself not to fantasize about her made him do it again. This was crazy. It had not been twenty four hours yet since the first time and it had happened what, five times? It was always the same fantasy, he was with her in the shower and she was standing there with the water running over her breasts. He liked the way the water droplets and shampoo running over them seemed to make them even more attractive than they would usually be. That shampoo that she always used that smelled so good. He could smell it now just by thinking about it, her perfume too. It was not as if he actually even knew what her breasts even looked like. Sure some of those tops she wore did not leave his imagination far to go but boy had it gone. He mumbled to himself, "Fucking stop it! This is wrong, you're engaged to Jo!" Then a worrying thought hit him, since this had started to happen he had not actually seen Stephanie. What was going to happen when he did?

* * *

"I'm not doing it dad, you're only trying to make me do it to piss me off!" Stephanie huffed as she stood in front of her dad in his office at the arena.

"Swearing now Steph? Let's try and calm down huh?"

"You want me to calm down?" Stephanie ranted, "No problem, as I said I'm not doing it so change your mind and I'll calm down. Simple."

Vince insisted, "I'm not changing my mind and you are doing it. I'm not telling you as your dad I'm telling you as your boss, now shut up."

"Why? Why me?" Stephanie's best whining voice usually worked wonders with her father.

"Because you need to learn that you can't come in here and give me your puppy dog eyes and have me change our creative plans for people just because you don't like them."

Stephanie whined even louder, "But you agreed to take the title from her."

"Yes I did because you always manage to work me so well when you come to me like that but I realised that I was wrong so I changed it."

Stephanie huffed once more, "And if that wasn't bad enough you have to insist that I go out in the ring with while she's holding the title and announce this pathetic angle that you've put together that her and Jericho are both the champion? I mean are you serious? It's the stupidest crap I've ever heard."

Vince began to lose his temper, "I'm not discussing this any more Stephanie. That's the angle, you have the script and you're doing it. If you don't give it your best out there... well I'm warning you."

Stephanie hissed, "Fine!" With that she stormed out and slammed the door. It did not surprise Vince as he had seen this enough times before from his daughter. He had hoped that it would not happen at work but then she had often reacted this way whenever she did not get her own way. She would calm down soon. Vince had just managed to focus his thoughts back onto something productive when there was a knock on the door. He angrily yelled, "What?"

The door opened and Paul hesitantly walked in, "Is this a bad time?"

Vince rubbed his temple with two fingers, "No, sorry. My daughter is driving me crazy. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

Paul thought that Vince did not know the half of it but he could hardly say that so instead he went with, "I was actually looking for her. Where is she?"

Vince barked out a single laugh, "Right now? Throwing things around her locker room would be my guess."

"You had an argument?"

"Not really, she's just being a princess."

"She's not going to be like it all night is she? I've been looking forward to tonight."

Vince's laugh was more genuine this time, "I've got ten bucks that says she's back in here in less than five minutes."

Paul smiled, "What?"

Vince goaded him, "Come on get your money out. It's ten after the hour exactly. In less than five minutes she will be back in here."

Paul had seen Stephanie when she was irritated so he dreaded to think what she would be like if she was angry enough to be throwing things around. There was no way she would calm down from something like that inside of ten minutes. "I'll take your money."

Vince grinned, "I have another ten that says that the first word she says when she comes in here is daddy."

Paul laughed loudly, "No way. I'm not betting against that." They chatted as they waited and Paul kept checking his watch. With less than a minute of the five remaining the door opened and Stephanie walked in, "What are you doing here?" She demanded of Paul.

Paul laughed, "God damn it! We would have been even!" Vince held out his hand and Paul slapped a ten into it. Vince said, "Too easy."

"Did you make a bet about me?"

Vince replied with an unconvincing attempt at an innocent smile, "No, Paul was just getting to know you a little better."


	15. Chapter 15

"Tell me what bet you made," Stephanie demanded as she walked along the hallway next to Paul a few minutes later.

Paul sensed that this subject was not going to be dropped until he confessed so he admitted, "Your dad told me that you threw a fit and stormed out of his office but he said you would be back in less than five minutes to try and... well I've never seen you angry but..."

"You're going the right way about it."

Paul laughed at that and mocked, "Ohhhh making threats now?" He could tell Stephanie was trying not to but after a few seconds she laughed too. She took him by surprise by saying, "You should have came out last night Paul."

He looked at her as he wished that he had done, "I missed a good night huh?"

"We both did, I spent the night in my room. We could have had so much fun."

"I'm sorry Steph, I would have loved to come for a drink." He was only being honest.

Stephanie was tempted to lecture him about letting his psycho girlfriend control his life but she decided to say nothing. She repeated what he had just said in her head and hoped that it was what she thought it was. Was he starting to admit his feelings for her? If only she could make him feel for her what she felt for him. She wanted him so badly, it was torture seeing him with that piece of trash, even to hear him mention her. Why had he proposed to her, the stupid bastard?

Paul assumed that as Stephanie had stopped talking she regretted bringing up the subject so he returned to the original one, "So, tell me what you were angry about?" He was looking at her as he asked the question and he saw those beautiful eyes flash with anger for a second as she thought back to whatever it was but she said, "Just leave it Paul. We're here now anyway."

"Where's here? You didn't say where we were going?"

She smiled at him, "I actually said it was a surprise. If I told you what the surprise was it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" Paul grinned, "Okay, so what is it?"

"Open the door."

They were standing next to a door, Paul wondered what surprise she could possibly have waiting for him behind it? Maybe it led to the showers? If only. He opened it and saw that it was a spacious office with expensive furniture. There was a huge leather couch and a table and on the table was an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne in it. Paul was confused, "What's this?" He was shoved inside as he was told, "It's our office. At least it's our office as far as filming is concerned. After dad 'walks out' tonight we're in charge, so we need an office."

Paul smiled, "This is great! Vince even got champagne for us?"

She giggled, "No, idiot. I had that delivered."

Paul sat down and relaxed into the comfortable couch. Stephanie stood over him with her hands on her hips, "Do you expect me to pour it as well?"

"Sorry Steph, sit down." He reached over and opened the bottle and poured some for each of them into the glasses that were ready and waiting. He handed one to her and she giggled as she raised her glass, "To the happy couple."

Paul joined in with the game, "To my beautiful wife."

They clinked glasses and drank as Stephanie's mind ran wild. Paul had just called her beautiful!

* * *

Paul had realised as soon as he said it that he had called her beautiful and he felt like such a bastard. He lay awake in bed in the hotel that night next to Joanie and he was angry with himself. He was engaged to Jo, what the hell was he doing telling another woman that she was beautiful? His parents had raised him to be better than that. He was sure that there were plenty of guys out there who would just give in to temptation and go have fantastic sex with Stephanie and not give a shit that they had been unfaithful but that was not him. He loved Jo and he could not live with himself if he did something like that behind her back. He felt bad enough that he kept having that fantasy about Stephanie but he could not exactly help it, he was not choosing for it to happen. He told himself yet again that he had promised to keep his relationship with Stephanie strictly professional. He would not accept any offers she made to go for a drink or to do anything else outside of work with her. He had to get her out of his head somehow.

* * *

Two weeks passed by and Stephanie was going out of her mind, what did she have to do to get through to this guy? She was sure that he wanted her but he just would not act on it. It was infuriating and these last couple of weeks she sensed that he was trying to distance himself from her again. It was ever since that night she had bought the champagne and he had called her beautiful. Maybe he felt guilty as he thought about his stupid girlfriend? God damn her! She made a decision, tonight's Smackdown was the last show before Christmas and she would give Paul something to think about over the holidays. After the show was over and it was time to go their separate ways Paul stood to leave their office and said, "I need to go find Jo, Steph. We're flying out tonight so I can't hang around. Merry Christmas."

Stephanie stood and made sure she was very close to him, "You didn't get me a gift?"

Paul was embarrassed as he deliberately had not bought her a gift, "Uh... no. Did you get me one?"

"I didn't buy anything but I do have something for you."

Paul looked confused, "What does that mean?" She looked up at him and hoped that he liked the way she looked in her Santa hat, she wanted him to remember this moment, "Merry Christmas Paul." She kissed him and for a few seconds he began to return it. Finally! Stephanie was overjoyed as she closed her eyes and began to enjoy the kiss but then Paul pulled away and hurriedly said, "I can't do this Steph, I have to go." He practically ran out of the office and the door closed with a bang.

Stephanie flopped down onto the couch in frustration. At least she had given him something to think about but the problem was that it was now likely to be that he wanted to avoid her. She cursed at her own foolishness for throwing herself at him like that, "Shit!"


	16. Chapter 16

Stephanie knew that jealousy was an ugly thing but she felt it anyway. She had blown it big time by kissing Paul on that Thursday night. He had returned from the Christmas break and told her in no uncertain terms that it could not happen again. He had outright told her that he did not want to be with her, he wanted to be with Jo and if the two of them could not work together without Stephanie flirting with him or even worse kissing him without warning then he would ask Vince to write him out of the storyline. She was pissed off both with Paul and herself. She would be the first to admit that she had not had many boyfriends in her life and she certainly had not attempted to take a man from another woman before but even so she would have imagined herself being able to make a better job of it than this. The worst thing was that she knew that Paul wanted her. She knew it! Not only that, they had to do segments together for TV where they would hold each other and kiss each other and it killed her that they could not do it for real. She was sure that all she needed to do was get him alone outside of work again, she remembered how they had both enjoyed the meal in Vegas. Maybe she should have just invited him into her room that night? She was beginning to lose hope that she would ever get another chance to try to work her magic on him but then out of nowhere an opportunity presented itself. She was riding in the limo with her dad listening intently to the conversation he was having on his cell phone, his end of the conversation at least. When he had finished she asked, "What's that dad?"

"Shawn's let me down for Monday night."

Stephanie pretended not to know what her father meant as he referred to Shawn Michaels but she was already aware of exactly what it meant and what she was going to do. She was proud of herself for being able to come up with things on the fly as fast as she this, it was a special talent of hers. "Let you down for what?"

"He was supposed to be at WWF New York on Monday night but he's just cried off, now I'll have to find someone else to do it."

WWF New York was the company's own restaurant and nightclub in Times Square. Every Monday and Thursday fans could pay an entrance fee and watch the show there and the deal was sweetened by having one or more of the superstars there for each event. If Shawn Michaels was not going to go then Stephanie knew who could, "Why don't I go with Paul?"

Vince was scrolling through the contacts in his phone, "Huh?"

"I said Paul and I can go."

Vince sighed, "Steph we need you guys on Raw, is that not obvious?"

"Why is it obvious? We can write it that we run the show from there, god knows you run enough segments with whoever is there to hype the place every week. Besides, Paul and I are two of the top characters right now, who better to push the place?" She could tell he was thinking about it so she twisted the knife, "It's not as if I've asked for a night off since I've been here, plus I'll still be working half of the night anyway."

After a few moments of consideration Vince said, "I need you guys on Raw but... I'll tell you what I'll do. Raw is coming from New York anyway so you can both go over there after the show and you can eat or drink whatever you like all night on me. Fair enough?"

Stephanie decided that this would work as well as her idea, "Thank you daddy." Vince closed his eyes briefly as he heard that. His daughter was not as clever as she thought she was. Whenever he heard the word daddy he knew that she either wanted something from him or had just succeeded in getting something from him. The question was what exactly had she wanted? Maybe it was just a night off as she had said. He dismissed it.

Stephanie realised that she still had a problem. What if Paul refused to go with her? She decided that a night out together was what they both needed, it was the only way she could break through the stupid defences he was trying to build against her in his own head. She knew that he wanted her, she just knew it. So how to convince him to go? She decided that it was simple, she would lie.

* * *

Paul was miserable. He felt like he had lost control of his life. He was engaged to a woman who he had loved for years but he had a feeling somewhere in the back of his mind that this was no longer the case. Not only that, he was becoming obsessed with Stephanie. There was no other way to describe it and no reason to try and deny it to himself, that would be stupid at this point. He kept having the same fantasy about her over and over. He ran through it again in his head. He was not sure why his fantasy involved standing and watching Stephanie shower. If he was really in a shower with her he would do more than watch that was for sure. He told himself that this was stupid. He should just leave Jo and be with Stephanie, it was obvious that it was what they both wanted but he could not do it. He loved Jo and she did not deserve to get hurt like that plus his parents had raised him to be better than that. His mom especially would go wild, he could not even imagine...

"Are you sure you're not ill?" Joanie had interrupted his thoughts, "You look like death."

He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed, "I'm just not sleeping well."

"Don't I know it? You've been in and out of bed all night for the last few nights and last night you were making noises in your sleep," she laughed, "it sounded like you were dreaming about fucking me."

Paul could not remember the dream but he considered it a safe bet that it was not Jo that he had been dreaming about. What if he ended up saying Stephanie's name in his sleep? It might save him from having to tell Jo about all of this at least.

* * *

Stephanie waited for Paul to arrive in their office. She checked her watch once more and confirmed that he was late. A few minutes later he walked in and sat down next to her. "Hey Steph." He sounded very tired. Seeing how bad he looked gave her an idea how to go about talking him into the night out. She said, "I guess my dad was right."

He turned to her with a confused look on his face, "How's that?"

"Sorry, I meant to tell you later. I mentioned to dad about how long it's been since I had a night off and he offered us both the chance to go to WWF New York on Monday night after the show and it's all going to be on him. He said you were looking a little burned out. I told him not to be silly but to be honest you do look a little run down."

Paul considered how to respond. He knew it was a bad idea for his relationship with Jo to spend time with Stephanie outside of work but it was only a meal and a drink or two, right? Besides which if Vince had made the offer because he thought that he looked burned out it would seem not only rude but stupid too if he rejected it. He made his decision, "Maybe a chance to unwind wouldn't be a bad thing. This is just a meal and a few drinks though Steph."

"I know that, what else would it be?" The question was asked innocently so they both sat there pretending that they were not imagining it being a whole lot more.


	17. Chapter 17

Stephanie knew that tonight would probably be her final chance. She checked her hair, make up and her outfit in the mirror and she was happy. She looked her best and she was going to try her hardest to make Paul act on his feelings for her. She knew that she had to play it perfectly, if she pushed too hard or too early he would run back to Joanie again. She put on her leather jacket, left her hotel room and rode the elevator to the lobby. She had expected to see Paul waiting for her but he was not there. She hoped that he had not decided to back out as she stood in the lobby and waited.

* * *

Paul told himself again that this was a bad idea. He remembered the last time that he had eaten a meal with Stephanie and what had happened afterwards. He knew that if she kissed him again he was not going to be able to resist her. He put on his leather jacket and left his hotel room. As he stood in the elevator he thought that surely it must be possible to have a meal with Stephanie without anything happening afterwards. It must be, right? The elevator's doors opened and he walked out into the lobby and saw Stephanie waiting for him. She must have sensed him approaching as she turned and smiled at him. He smiled back as he realised that he was downplaying it by thinking that this was simply a bad idea. It was worse than that, one smile and he was already desperate to kiss her.

Stephanie said, "I thought it was going to be a no show. Come on I'm starving! There's a car waiting outside."

"I'm hungry too and I definitely need a drink."

* * *

As they climbed out of the car as close to WWF New York as it could get them Stephanie exclaimed, "Wow! Look at this place, look how busy it is!"

Paul saw that she was right, there were people everywhere. It was going to be tough to even get near the place. Fortunately security were somehow ready for their arrival. Maybe the driver had called ahead? They were soon escorted inside amid screams from fans who wanted pictures and signatures. It was not much less chaotic inside. Stephanie had to speak quite loudly to make sure that Paul heard her, "Let's just have a drink and get out of here. We can eat somewhere quieter."

"Are you sure? Your dad said whatever we bought in here was on him." They were shown to a table which had been reserved for them. As Stephanie took her jacket off she said, "I also promised that the next time we had dinner it would be on me. We'll head back to the hotel and eat there."

As she sat Paul noticed two things, firstly that it had not been a question and secondly that the top she was wearing gave him a great view from where he was standing. He took his jacket off and put it over the back of his chair. "Well if we're not stopping here we can't get you a bottle of wine, I'll get you something else."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows, "You want to choose my drink?"

Paul laughed, "What, you're happy for me to choose your food but not your drink?"

She giggled, "Ok, go for it," then she added, "If you put anything in it you're fired."

He laughed as he walked away. A few minutes later he returned with two beers and put one in front of her. She asked, "You bought me beer? Seriously?"

He grinned as he sat down, "Don't tell me you're too girly to drink beer?"

She giggled again, "Too girly? I'll drink mine before you drink yours!"

"You're on. Drink on three?" She nodded and he said, "Wait is one, two, drink or one, two, three, drink?"

Stephanie picked up her beer, "Three then drink, you count."

"Ok... one, two, three," he drank his beer as quickly as he could and banged his glass down on the table, "Beat you," as he did so he noticed that she had made no attempt to join in the game. She grinned as she sipped her beer, "Idiot."

He grinned back, "Spoilsport."

She laughed, "You actually thought I was going to do that?"

He shrugged with the grin still on his face, "It was your idea."

She smiled sweetly at him and he fought the desperate urge to kiss her. "I'm uh... going to get another one, you'll be there forever with that." As he walked away he knew that tonight was going to be the night, he had just seen it in her eyes.

* * *

They took their seats at a table in the restaurant back at the hotel and Stephanie said, "At least we can hear ourselves think in here."

Paul handed her a menu and saw that this time she opened it and started to read. He figured that buying the beer had been a mistake but at least he was not going to have to run the risk with ordering her food this time. He decided to go with the steak, it was his favourite thing to eat. "What are you going to have?"

"They have lamb, I can't turn that down."

"And red wine, right?"

Stephanie grinned, "You know me so well." Paul signalled to a server and ordered. As the server walked away Stephanie said, "So last time you made me tell you all about myself, you're up." He spent the next half hour telling her about himself and answering the questions she asked. She seemed genuinely interested in his story which for some reason he had not expected. Clearly she was not just here to play games. Eventually he reached the point where he had met Joanie and Stephanie seemed to lose interest in the conversation very quickly. After a minute or two she changed the subject, "I remember the first time we saw each other."

This surprised him, "You do?" The server picked this of all moments to deliver the food. As he started eating he realising how annoyed he was that the moment had been lost and he wanted to get it back. "Tell me what you remember?"

She looked at him slyly and finished chewing her mouthful of lamb before she answered, "I remember pretending to make coffee for myself and my dad so that I had an excuse to talk to the hot guy I saw making one for himself."

His eyes widened, "Steph!"

She shrugged, "You asked what I remembered. What do you remember?"

He decided that she had been honest so he could not exactly lie. He ate another mouthful of food and informed her, "That wasn't the first time I saw you."

She sipped her wine, "Really? Tell me more."

"I was standing talking to Sean and you walked past with your dad."

A mischievous smile appeared on her face, "I attracted your attention huh?"

Deciding that honesty was working out okay so far he admitted, "Yes you did." Stephanie decided not to push any further, she had seen and heard what she wanted from him. They spent the another hour talking and finishing dessert and the wine and eventually it was time to leave. Stephanie insisted on paying the bill as she had promised despite protests from Paul. The entered the elevator and Paul asked, "You're on the top floor?"

"You know it." She watched Paul press the button and silently pleaded with him not to let her down, not now. She sensed nervousness from him as they walked towards her room, she expected him to turn and leave at any second. She opened her door and turned to him, "I had a lovely night Paul, thank you."

A nervous smile was the result. "Me too and you paid for it so thank you." She reached up and kissed him. "I guess this is goodnight?" Before he could answer she walked into her room but this time did not close the door.

Paul stood in the hallway with his head spinning. What a decision, what to do? Stay out of the room and be loyal to his fiancée and to everything he had promised himself or walk into the room where the girl of his dreams was ready and waiting for him and give in to what had obviously been her plan this whole time? He closed his eyes for a second and then opened them again as he reached his decision. He walked into the room and closed the door.


	18. Chapter 18

As he closed the door he felt the incredible lust burning inside of him even more than it ever had before and he told himself that if he was going to do this he needed to just do it and not give himself the chance to back out so that was exactly what he did. He walked quickly over to Stephanie who had taken off her jacket and had turned to face him as she heard the door close. She began to say playfully, "Well hello..."

She was cut off as Paul grabbed her, pulled her tightly too him and kissed her. He was not sure if it was a further attempt to speak or a moan of pleasure that escaped her as their tongues began to battle but it made him grow harder and he felt himself pressing into her stomach. Stephanie felt it too and pulled away from the kiss and purred, "Oh Paul..."

"Shut up Steph," he forced his mouth onto hers again, loving the taste of her. Suddenly he felt his belt being opened and then her hand was inside his jeans rubbing his already hard length through his underwear. She moaned again and Paul could tell that she liked what she felt as he realised that if he was not careful it was not going to get as far as sex, he had wanted her so badly for so long that he felt as though he was set to explode at any moment.

Without warning he picked her up with both of his hands under her very shapely and firm buttocks. He liked the way her ass felt in his hands and Stephanie liked the way his big, powerful hands dug into her as she involuntarily squealed. He carried over to the bed but she had wrapped her legs around him which thwarted his plan of placing her straight down onto it. Instead she did something that he had never experienced before, she bit his neck. It hurt and he grunted in response to the pain but despite this she did it again. Paul ignored the pain and climbed onto the bed with her legs still wrapped around him. When she had been placed on the bed she released her legs from around him and almost whispered, "Fuck me Paul, fuck me right now," and started kissing him again as he lowered himself on top of her.

Clumsily, almost desperately he removed her underwear as the smell and taste of her intoxicated him. He had never felt anything like this before. The sheer amount that he wanted this was incredible. He knew that very soon they would not need to want each other any more. He felt her warmth and wetness with his fingers and inserted two of them into her but she moaned again, "Just fuck me, do it now."

Surprised that she seemed not to want any foreplay Paul figured that maybe the whole evening had been foreplay for her as much as it had for him. It was plain that she was desperate for him to enter her but there was something he had to do first. Keeping her waiting would be no bad thing. He had fantasized about them so many times, he just had to get at those breasts. He roughly removed them from her bra and she lent an assist by removing it and her top and threw them away over the side of the bed. Paul moaned with pleasure at the sight of the breasts, they met more than every expectation. He then began to suck on her nipples alternating between her breasts as she began moaning again. She felt herself quivering as he did this and she was desperate for him now. Her moans were driving him wild and she insisted again, loudly this time, "Just fuck me!" Needing no further instruction he slid himself into her and she moaned, "Paul," as she felt the incredible fullness of him which was like nothing she had experienced before. He was huge.

Thrusting himself into her harder and harder Paul grunted in pleasure as Stephanie grabbed his head, forcing him to stay where he was so that she could continue to kiss him. The bed creaked and banged against the wall as he went as far into her as he could and her moans continued, eventually rising to near screams as she came. As she did so she dug the nails of one hand into his chest and tore a series of lines that were at least four inches long in his skin with her nails. He cried out in pain as he felt her shaking in her orgasm and he could not hold himself back any longer, he exploded into her with a loud gutteral moan. Stephanie moaned once more and then it was over. He removed himself from her and rolled over to lie next to her. They both lay there sweating and panting for a long moment before she turned to face him. They put an arm around each other and she attempted to talk again, "Paul I..."

Paul had already started to feel guilty that he had just cheated on Joanie as he had been lying there and he cut her off, "Please don't say anything."

* * *

The sunlight that streamed through the window was very bright for the time of year and it hurt Paul's eyes as he opened them. He turned to face in the other direction and saw an empty pillow. He remembered that it was Stephanie who should be there, he was still in her room. He had actually done it, he had slept with Stephanie. He had cheated on Jo. Luckily he had lied to her in advance that he was heading home and not staying in New York last night. He wondered why he had done that if he had really gone into last night with no intention of sleeping with Stephanie? Either way it was a good thing that he had.

His train of thought was interrupted by a feeling of pain from his chest. He looked down at it and saw three red scratch marks in his chest with another fainter one next to it. He realised why she had done it and mumbled under his breath, "You wanted to mark me didn't you Steph? That's why you bit me too. That'll give me something to explain to Jo, right?" Oh shit... I'm going to have to tell her. How can I not with these scratches on me?" He closed his eyes as he realised that his relationship with Joanie was almost certainly over. Stephanie had seen to that by leaving him no choice but to tell her. There was no way that Jo would forgive him for this. As he lay with his eyes closed imagining how Jo was going to react he found his mind drifting. What was that sound? Running water? Stephanie was in the shower!

Without any hesitation he leapt out of bed and headed towards the bathroom door. He had thought about this so many times there was no way he was passing this opportunity up, as long as she had not locked the door. He tried the handle and the door opened. He walked in and Stephanie looked around the curtain and giggled, "Don't you even knock?"

"No." He threw off his underwear and got into the shower with her and wrapped his arms around her. As the warm water flowed over both of them she looked at the damage she had done to his chest. "Oh that looks painful, I'm sorry."

"Bullshit, you did that on purpose." Stephanie gave him a mischievous smile that he found insanely attractive, "Yes I did." It was impossible to be angry with her despite the admission especially as he could already smell the shampoo. He knew that she had already washed her hair but he also knew what he wanted, a realisation of his fantasy so he ordered, "Wash your hair."

She looked into his eyes and he noted her surprise as she asked, "What?"

"You heard, wash your hair."

She grinned nervously, "I already washed..."

He insisted, "So do it again." Stephanie did as he asked and his fantasy became reality as the water and shampoo ran over her breasts. She noticed where his attention was focussed and teased, "You like that huh? What if I do this?" She turned her back on him.

Paul got as close to her as he could and his hardness pressed into her lower back as he wrapped one arm around her and used the other hand to play with her breasts. He said, "Then you'll force me to do this."

"I can live with that," she purred. He felt himself getting harder as she began to moan again as she had the previous night. He placed his head on top of hers and breathed in the smell of her shampoo as he used the other hand to insert two fingers into her and she moved with his motions as he felt her getting warmer and wetter. When he thought that she was ready he ordered, "Tell me to fuck you again."

Stephanie turned around and looked longingly at him and he realised how good she was at this as she purred, "Fuck me Paul, please fuck me." He was not sure why hearing her say it turned him on so much, a woman talking dirty to him had never been a thing for him before but when she did it it drove him wild. He picked her up with his hands under her buttocks as he had before and as she wrapped her legs around him again he slid himself into her as he forced her back against the tiles. She moaned as he thrust into her and he demanded, "Talk dirty some more."

She moaned, "You'll have to fuck me harder if you want me to do that." As he thrust harder and harder she kept moaning, "Harder," into his ear. She had to stop doing it as she approached orgasm and instead she screamed in pleasure. As it had the first time this caused him to unload into her with a groan.

He tried to regain his breath as he allowed her back onto her feet and she kissed him again and demanded quietly, "Get out of my shower."

Paul did as he was told and dried himself off with a towel. He guessed that the pleasure was now over, next would be the pain. He would have to tell Jo that he had cheated on her. As he put his underwear back on he called out over the sound of the water, "I'm going to have to tell Jo, Steph."

Her reply came sweetly from the other side of the curtain, "Okay."

"Not ok," he clarified, "She's going to leave me."

"You didn't seem worried about that just now."

"Well I'm worried about it now. I'm not going to see her until tomorrow night but I'll have to tell her then."

"So tell her. I'll be here..."

Paul cut her off, "Don't Steph, this isn't a game to me."

Her face appeared around the curtain, "It's not a game for me either. I want to be with you." She had hoped that he would repeat the sentiment back to her but instead he walked out of the bathroom and closed the door. She got out of the shower and dried off but by the time she walked back into the room it was empty, Paul had gone. She dressed and sat down on the edge of the bed with a sigh as she considered Joanie and raged quietly but fiercely, "Leave him you bitch, just leave him. Get away from my man and stay away!"


	19. Chapter 19

Paul examined the bruising on his neck where Stephanie had bitten him in the mirror as he drove to pick Joanie up from the airport. As he did he so he spoke to Stephanie even though she was not with him, "You didn't need your little insurance policy on my chest, she's going to notice that as soon as she sees me. Thanks a lot." He pulled the collar up on his coat and although he looked like an asshole it did cover up what Stephanie had done. Not that there was any point. What was he going to do, keep his coat on all night? He would be lucky to even make it back to the hotel without her seeing it. he wanted to at least manage that so that he could break the news in private. His fiancée was going to blow up big time and of course she had every right to. He did not know what he had been thinking or who he wanted any more. Jo, Steph or neither of them? Maybe neither would be a lot easier. He got to the airport just before her flight's landing time and waited in the arrivals area. He kept nervously checking that his collar was up and he realised that as he drove them to the hotel the bruising would on her side. He considered that maybe he should just tell her as soon as they got into the car or even kill himself before she arrived. It was too late for that as she was now approaching him with a smile on her face. "Hey, I missed you," she greeted him.

They hugged and kissed without her noticing anything as Paul said, "I missed you too." He took her bag and as they left the building she giggled, "What's with the fashion statement?"

"Huh?"

"Your coat, have you seen yourself?"

He thought that he was already fucked as he awkwardly replied, "No fashion statement, it's cold."

"No it isn't. Are you feeling okay, you look... I don't know." Stressed was how he looked. He knew that without the assistance of a mirror. "I'm okay. How are your family?" They reached the car as Joanie told him about how her family were and what she had done the day before. He tossed her bag into the trunk and got into the car next to her. He wanted to tell her but he could not make himself do it so he just drove. The moment he had dreaded did not take long. As he drove they made idle conversation for a few minutes until she laughed at a lame joke that he had made and turned to look at him, "That was... what's that?"

Paul was unable to answer as he wished to be anywhere but in this car right now. Joanie demanded again, "Paul? What's that?"

"What's what?"

Her voice already contained anger, "Don't what's what me. Your neck."

"Jo I..."

"Don't tell me you've been with someone?" Paul knew that there was no other option now but to tell the truth so he mumbled, "I slept with Stephanie." He naturally expected an explosion but what he got hurt him even more. Instead of furious his fiancée sounded heartbroken, "Oh you bastard. You complete bastard."

"I'm sorry Jo, I..."

She had started to cry, "Don't. Just shut up. I don't want to hear your fake apologies or your bullshit."

He tried again, "I really am..." She cut him off again, sounding devastated, "And with her too. You swore to me that you would stay away from her. I knew you would do this and yet you swore to me. I saw how you looked at her and I knew. You proposed to me! And then you go and fuck her in some... hotel room?" Paul said nothing and she demanded, "Was it in her hotel room?"

"Yes."

"Once?"

"Don't do this Jo," Paul pleaded but she screamed through her tears, "Was it once? Tell me the truth, surely I deserve that at least?"

He closed his eyes for as long as he could get away with considering that he was driving before admitting with a sigh, "Twice."

"You unimaginable bastard."

Knowing that another attempt to apologise would be a waste of time Paul just drove and the silence after she had stopped crying was torture until eventually Joanie spoke, "It's over Paul. I can never trust you again. You swore to me that you would stay away from her and even after you proposed to me you did this."

"I don't want to lose you Jo."

Still she sounded more hurt than angry, "Well you should have thought about that before you went into her room. It's over Paul. Drop me at the hotel and stay away from me."

"Don't do this..." he pleaded but was cut off once more, "I didn't do this, you did." There was no real way to argue with that and he knew by the way that she had said it that she had made her decision. "I'm sorry, even if you leave me I'm sorry."

"I don't care about your apologies, this is the worst thing you could have possibly done to hurt me. Take this and give it to your slut." She had taken off her engagement ring and she dropped it into his lap.

"Can't we at least talk about this?"

"No Paul. I already told you I'll never trust you again, you make me sick. If you want to talk to someone talk to her." They completed the rest of the drive in a very uncomfortable silence. When he parked the car near in the lot at the hotel Joanie got out as quickly as possible and went to get her bag from the trunk. Paul got out of the car and as she removed her bag from the trunk he tried once more, "Please let's at least talk."

She looked at him and the pain in her eyes was plain to see. "No Paul, it's over. Don't call me, don't come near me, ever. I hate you for this, you disgust me." With that she stormed into the hotel and he knew that as she did so she also stormed out of his life. He slammed the trunk shut hard and cursed himself angrily, "Fucking asshole." Waiting a few minutes to ensure that Joanie had cleared the lobby he entered the hotel and he knew that he had to book another room, he obviously would not be sharing with Jo. With resignation he walked up to the reception desk and paid for a single room. As he did so something was nagging at him. Why was Jo not angry? It was obvious why she was upset but surely there should have been plenty of anger too? Then it dawned on him, the anger was not going to be directed at him, it was being saved for someone else. Stephanie. He had to call Stephanie and warn her, this was going to be bad.

Today was definitely a day to get drunk so he walked into the bar and bought a beer but before drowning his sorrows he had to call Stephanie. He took out his phone and called her number. It rang for some time and he thought he was not going to get an answer but eventually he heard, "Hi Paul."

"Steph we need to talk."

"Is this about your disappearing act?" Irritation was plain in her voice. This was going from bad to worse, he was going to get shit from Stephanie now too. In an attempt to prevent this from happening he said, "I'm sorry, I was just... confused."

"Are you confused now?"

He sighed, "No, I told Jo and she said that it's over. She gave me the engagement ring back."

Stephanie made not attempt not to sound pleased, "Really?"

"You can at least try not to sound so happy about it," Paul moaned irritably.

"Why? I am happy about it. I told you that I want to be with you."

Paul avoided that by saying, "Steph listen to me, don't show up for Smackdown tomorrow please."

"What?"

"You heard, Jo's going to come for you and I'm afraid of what she might do. Don't show up and I'll speak to Vince..."

The anger in the reply was a big surprise, "Fuck her, if anyone's not going to show up it will be her. She tries anything with me I'll have her ass fired."

Paul closed his eyes and put his head in his free hand, "You're not going to listen to me on this are you?"

"No I'm not. I'll tell her exactly what happened Monday night and she can kiss my ass."

Paul conceded that Stephanie was not going to see sense. "Don't say that I didn't warn you."

"Did you only call me to talk about your psycho ex girlfriend? You don't want to talk about us?" Paul's head was a mess and all he could say was, "Not now, not on the phone."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow night," Stephanie replied sweetly. Paul was about to say something more but he realised that the call had been ended at the other end. He signalled to the bartender for another beer. As he drank it he thought about how much he was dreading showing up for Smackdown. Jo and Stephanie were going to go at each other, the whole locker room would find out, Shane and Vince would find out. Could someone not just kill him now?


	20. Chapter 20

Stephanie had made sure that she looked her best before she headed to the arena for Smackdown. This was partly for Paul's benefit and partly for Joanie's, when Joanie saw her Stephanie wanted her to realise that she was nothing compared to her. It would satisfy her just to see the anger in Joanie's eyes and Stephanie would make sure that her own eyes conveyed the message, "Yes, I took your man from you, he's going to be mine now."

As the limo got closer the arena she began to lose this arrogance and confidence because she had now considered the possibility that Joanie could come at her and attack her. If that happened she could deal out some serious damage, the ugly bitch was huge. It would be a good idea to stay close to her dad the whole night. If Jo came at her in front of her dad maybe she would get herself fired. That would be perfect. Either way she would get Jo out of the company one day, there was no doubt about that. The limo arrived at the arena and now Stephanie felt very nervous. She went to her father's office and decided to stay there. If the shit was going to hit the fan it could do it in here.

* * *

Paul arrived as late as he could get away with. His hangover had cleared but he still felt like crap. This night was going to be awful, he just knew it. He did not even make it as far as his locker room before his friend Sean approached him, "Dude is it true?" Paul shook his head briefly, news did not take long to get around this place that was for sure. "Is what true?" He avoided as he continued walking to his locker room.

Sean walked alongside him, "Don't try that with me bro, it's true isn't it? You and Stephanie!"

Paul sighed, "In my locker room Sean, not out here."

His friend laughed, "Right, that will make a difference. Everyone knows already. Jo must have told someone and you know what this place is like."

They walked into Paul's locker room and Sean's persistence continued, "So tell me what it was like?"

"Huh?"

Sean laughed again, "Come on man! What was it like?"

Paul had had a lot of time to think in the bar the previous night and he had decided that as Jo had left him there was nothing to stop him being with Stephanie any more. Not only was Stephanie fully hot she wanted to be with him, she had said so herself. He smiled at his friend and took pleasure in his response, "I fucked Stephanie McMahon, what do you think it was like? It was fantastic. It was wonderful... wonderful."

Sean laughed even louder than before and slapped him on the shoulder, "Jesus, you've got it bad for her. Tell me more!"

Paul grinned, "We went out for dinner and she insisted that I walk her back to her room. She kissed me and left the door open so what was I supposed to do? I went in and fucked her. She likes to talk dirty too."

Sean eyebrows raised, "Really? Who would have thought? Don't tell me you sneaked out of her room in the night?"

Paul assured him, "Oh no, I woke up in her bed and then I went and fucked her in the shower."

Sean high fived Paul. "Legend!"

"It's not all good, I had to tell Jo and she left me. I really didn't want to lose her man."

"Saves you from having to choose between them, if Stephanie is still alive."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I heard that Jo's in Vince's office and so is Stephanie, I bet there's blood everywhere."

Paul sighed, "Oh shit."

* * *

Stephanie had waited for what seemed like hours for the inevitable. She had gone from being confident to afraid as she sat in Vince's office. She just wanted it to be over with, let the bitch storm into the office, run her mouth and then her dad could throw her out. Vince would go wild at her too as he had specifically told her never to date a wrestler but it was hardly her fault that Paul was so damned hot was it? Shane walked into the office and initially Stephanie was glad to have the extra backup until he demanded, "Stephanie why have I just heard..."

Quickly she cut him off, "Shane not now please."

Vince asked, "Shane what's going on?" As he said it the door flew open and although Stephanie could not see who entered as Shane was standing in front of her blocking her line of sight she certainly knew the awful sounding voice which demanded, "Where is she?" As Shane moved over to block Joanie from getting to Stephanie it made Stephanie visible to Joanie who exploded, "You fucking little slut!"

As Joanie tried to get at Stephanie Vince helped Shane to restrain her. It was lucky that they were both there as either one would have struggled by themselves to deal with the enormous woman who was still screaming at Stephanie, "I'll rip your fucking head off!"

Vince yelled in turn, "What the hell is this about? Calm down!" Stephanie had the common sense to keep her mouth shut as Joanie raged, "Let me at her! Let me go!"

Shane yelled, "You're not hurting my sister! I know what she's done but you need to calm down!"

Joanie finally seemed to realise that she was in danger of losing her job as well as Paul because of Stephanie so she tried to calm down, "Alright, ok, let me go."

Vince said, "We'll let you go and we're going to sit down and talk and you're not going to do anything to Stephanie, are we clear on that?"

Joanie managed to reluctantly agree, "Yes." The two men released her and as she had promised she sat down in the closest chair. Vince ordered, "Shane go outside and stop anyone coming in here." Shane looked at Stephanie disapprovingly as he left and closed the door. Vince pulled a chair over and made sure he was sitting in between Joanie and his daughter just in case she blew up again. "What the hell is going on?"

"She slept with Paul," Joanie revealed bitterly.

Vince's head snapped around to his daughter as he exclaimed, "You did what? Is that true?"

Stephanie wanted to sound pleased with herself but she knew that her dad was also going to be angry so she kept the response simple. "Yes."

As Vince said, "What did I tell you before you started here?" Joanie also growled, "Fucking slut."

Vince turned back to Joanie, "That will do. I don't want to hear that word again."

"If it wouldn't cost me my job you wouldn't hear any words," Joanie growled once more, "I'd tear her head off."

Vince warned her, "That's enough or it will cost you your job. No one's going to get hurt and no one's going to be throwing insults and abuse at each other. You stay away from each other. Is that clear to both of you?"

Joanie mumbled, "Yes."

Vince turned to Stephanie, "Stephanie?"

"Yes dad." He ordered her, "Okay, get out of here. I'm going to talk to Jo and then I'm going to have Paul in here. Tonight you and I are going to talk." Stephanie knew that she was going to get the riot act after the show but at least right now she had the chance to get out of the office and away from Joanie. She knew exactly where she would go, it was time to talk to Paul.


	21. Chapter 21

The walk to Paul's locker room had been a real walk of shame for Stephanie. Everyone she had seen in the hallways had stopped talking as she walked past which made it obvious what and who they were talking about. She had also caught a few smirks on people's faces. She was angry, who the hell were these people to judge her? She hated this place at times and it was all that stupid bitch Joanie's fault for running around and shouting her mouth off. If only Stephanie was the one in charge she could just fire the bitch and be done with her. She heard laughter from inside Paul's locker room and she was pleased that at least he was not in a bad mood. She knocked and walked in and saw that Paul's friend Sean was in there with him. She also saw that Paul's neck had bruising on it. Her dad was going to love that when he summoned Paul to his office shortly. It would have been better just to scratch his chest rather than bite him.

As she entered Sean said, "I'll leave you to it," to Paul and then, "Hi Stephanie." She smiled at him as he left and as the door closed Paul asked, "Are you okay? Sean said Jo was in the office with you?"

Stephanie had hoped that Paul would just kiss her or something but no such luck. "Yeah she stormed in there swearing and throwing insults and threats around. My dad is talking with her now, hopefully he fires her but I doubt it."

Paul sighed, "I'd say he's more likely to fire me than her."

Stephanie had not considered that possibility but she assured him, "Don't be stupid, he can't fire you for sleeping with me."

"Sleeping with you now is it? Not fucking you?" Paul asked mischievously. She smiled and moved closer to him, "You like me to say that don't you? Okay, he can't fire you for coming into my room and fucking me or for busting into my bathroom, climbing in my shower and fucking me. Better?"

"Much better," he pulled her to him and they kissed. He was very forceful and she felt herself getting turned on but this could not happen here and certainly not now. She pulled her head away, "Not here Paul..."

"Shut up," He kissed her again. She desperately wanted to let this go further but if someone walked in, especially if it was her dad or Shane this would explode again. She pulled away again, "Paul stop. Not now, not here. If my dad walks in..."

Paul realised that she was right, despite how badly he wanted her he would have to wait. He released her reluctantly but he had made a decision though so he asked, "Your dad is pissed at you huh?"

She grimaced, "Yeah but not as much as he will be with you. You're in there next for the good news."

"Great," he sighed, "Even if he doesn't fire me he's going to end our storyline and stop us working together. You do know that, right?"

"Dad's not like that. He'll rage at you and threaten you about going near me again but he won't do anything that would make me unhappy."

"I wish I shared that confidence. Steph I..." His voice trailed off and she asked gently, "What?"

After a moment of silence he asked, "You really want to be with me? You're not playing games with me?"

"I already told you that I want to be with you and I meant it."

Paul pulled her to him, more gently this time, "I want to be with you too." They kissed again but it was less frantic and more passionate this time. Eventually Stephanie pulled away again, "You're sure that you're not upset about Jo? Don't tell me you want to be with me and then go back to her."

"I wouldn't do that Steph. I've realised that I wasn't into that relationship for a while but I just couldn't bring myself to end it. She did that for me and to be honest it's a relief."

She stroked the bruised area on his neck and said, "Then I'm glad that I did this. She saw it, right?"

He sighed, "Yeah and your dad is going to see it to, so thanks for that."

Stephanie giggled, "Just keep your shirt on, your chest looks a lot worse."

"You're evil, you know that?"

"Not me, I'm a good girl," she pouted.

"No you're not and I don't want you to be." With that he kissed her again but after a few moments she pulled away once more, "It's not going to be easy with dad and Shane..."

"So we won't get caught." The kissing resumed but they jumped apart moments later as there was a knock on the door. Stephanie said, "You were saying?" Paul opened the door and saw Gerald Brisco who informed him, "Vince wants you in his office Paul."

Paul sighed, "Right, I'll be right there." Brisco walked away and Stephanie said sweetly, "Good luck, I'll wait in our office."

Paul turned to her, "It's a good job you're worth all of this trouble you cause me." As he walked out of the locker room Stephanie gave him one of those stunning smiles. It was so tempting to go back in there but no, it was time to go and get screamed at by Vince.

* * *

As he knocked on Vince's door Paul wondered what the hell he was going to say. He decided that he would say as little as possible, just stand there and take what came at him and then get out of there. He walked in as expected Vince looked angry however he sounded calmer than Paul had expected as he ordered, "Sit down Paul."

Paul did as he was told without saying anything and Vince spoke, still calmer than expected, "I know what happened Monday night. I'm going to tell you this once and I do mean only once. Stay away from my daughter outside of your storyline. She's too good for you, she's too good for anyone in that locker room. She's not here to date you people, she's here to work. Am I perfectly clear on that?" That was it? Holy shit he had gotten off lightly! He asked, "You're not going to end the storyline and stop us working together?"

"I just told you that this is your one warning. This storyline is working well and I know that Stephanie is enjoying doing it so I'm not going to change anything unless I hear about you being with my daughter again or I see you walking in here with something like that," he pointed at Paul's neck, "If that happens I'll bury your ass. Do we understand each other?"

Paul's face had reddened at the mention of his neck and he said, "Yes sir."

"Get out." Paul was perfectly happy to do just that and he left as quickly as he could.


	22. Chapter 22

As Paul had headed for Vince's office Stephanie had headed for her own pseudo office. She nearly made it but as she rounded a corner she saw Joanie walking towards her. She was about to turn around and walk back in the opposite direction but Joanie was on her too quickly. As Stephanie attempted to back away she backed into the wall. Joanie seized the opportunity and stood right in front of Stephanie, leaving her with no escape. Joanie hissed threateningly as her eyes burned into Stephanie's from only inches away, "You little slut. You think you're going to take my man and my job from me? Well I've got..."

Stephanie interrupted, "Get away from me. I'm going to tell..."

Joanie interrupted in turn, "You're going to tell daddy? Well here's something that you should consider. I like my job and I don't want to lose it, but if I did lose it we'd be able to find out something interesting."

"Find out what?" Stephanie asked nervously.

Joanie reply was even more threatening, "How much Paul loves you. I wonder how long he would stick around when I break those legs you like showing off so much and put you in wheelchair?"

"Get away from me," Stephanie stammered, now terrified as Joanie stroked her hair away from her cheek, "I'll go away princess but if I get any more shit from your dad or if you even look at me the wrong way you're going to get hurt. You got that?" Stephanie nodded and Joanie stormed away. Stephanie quickly went into her office and sat down, feeling herself shaking. She had never been threatened like that in her life. Now more than ever she was determined to get Joanie out of the company and out of her life.

* * *

Paul headed for the office after he made his hasty retreat from Vince's office but he also had the misfortune to encounter someone who was angry. He recognised Shane's shout from behind him, "Hey! Come here!"

Paul turned around, "Shane I've already heard this from your dad. I already promised him that I'll stay away from Stephanie so you don't need to..."

Shane was now face to face with Paul, "I'm not as naive as my dad. I know you'll probably keep seeing my sister whether we like it or not. All I'm going to say is that if she comes to me saying that you've hurt her you'll wish that she hadn't. Understood?" Paul nodded and hurried away once more. Being with Stephanie definitely was not going to be as easy as telling her that he wanted to be. He entered the office as saw Stephanie sitting there looking a little pale. "Steph are you okay?"

She looked at him as he closed the door, "That psycho bitch threatened to break my legs."

Not needing to ask who 'she' was Paul sat next to Stephanie and put an arm around her, "She's all mouth. She wants you sitting here feeling like this. She loves working here too much to lay a finger on you, trust me."

"I hope you're sure about that, she scares me."

Paul kissed her, "I said trust me."

"How did you get on with dad?"

Paul laughed, "Better than I expected. He told me that you're too good for me and that I have to stay away from you or I'm done here but there was no screaming. Shane's not happy either."

Stephanie sighed, "What are we going to do?"

"Until the heat dies down we'd better not do anything at work, that's for sure."

"So I need to wait for you to come to my room tonight?" She grinned mischievously and those blue eyes twinkled at him. Paul kissed her again, "That's an offer I can't refuse."

* * *

After that invite the show seemed to drag on for much longer than usual for Paul, as did his shower after his match and the drive back to the hotel and eating dinner. All he wanted to was get up to Stephanie's room. He was aching for her. They had agreed that she would call him when she was free but the call had not came. What was going on? He was so tempted to call her as he sat there with his phone in his hand. He cautioned himself that calling her could potentially be a very bad move as she could be with Vince and that would mean another shit storm. He took another shower for no other reason than to pass some time. He had convinced himself that by the time he was done he would have a missed call from Stephanie but it still had not happened. Instead he had missed a call from his mom. He immediately knew what this was going to be. Was Jo for real? She had actually called his parents and ratted on him for what he had done. Now his mom was going to go mad at him too.

Decided that it would only get worse if he left it longer he called his mom back and spent fifteen minutes listening to a lecture about how he been raised to be better than this and that Jo was a lovely woman who did not deserve to treated like this and how he should not let some other woman lead him astray and ruin his life. He pretended to agree with everything that she said, it was easier that way. Finally he managed to end the call and sat on the bed not concentrating on the TV that he had turned on. He was worrying that Stephanie had called while he was on the call with his mom and had gotten his voice mail and thought that his phone was off. Or what if she had not called at all? What if she was not going to call? Another ten minutes dragged by before finally his phone rang and he saw that it was Stephanie. He answered immediately, "Hey Steph."

"Hi, sorry I'm so late. Dad was up here making a nuisance of himself. We had dinner and then he came up here making up stupid conversation about work. He's obviously suspicious."

"Has he gone now?"

"Yes. Are you going to come up? Room nine one five."

"Yes, I'll be right there," Paul confirmed eagerly. He grabbed his room key and left as quickly as he could. He did not bother to wait for an elevator as he only had two floors to climb. He reached the ninth floor and half expected to find Vince standing there waiting but fortunately that was not the case. He found the correct room and knocked on the door. Stephanie opened it with a smile, "Room service?"

"What are you talking about?" Paul asked quietly.

"Ssshhh dad is in the next room."

"Come down to my room then," Paul whispered.

"What?"

"I said come down to my room," he grinned as he added, "With the amount of noise that you make we'd get caught in less than five minutes."

She slapped him playfully, "I don't make... well maybe I do."

Paul grinned, "Come on, my room."

Stephanie seemed to consider it for a second and then she picked up her room key, "We're dead if dad finds out about this."

"Then let's not get caught."

They left the room and walked as quickly as they could to the elevators. Paul pressed the button and Stephanie said, "What if dad's in there?" They both laughed and Paul urged, "Quick, down the stairs." They both ran down the stairs, laughing as they did so. Stephanie said, "We're so going to get caught."

Paul reached his room and unlocked it. "Do you care?"

"Not right now."

Paul took her is his arms and kissed her. They walked through the door and Paul said, "I hope you find these squalid conditions acceptable?"

Stephanie kicked the door closed and ordered, "Shut up Paul," as she kissed him again.


	23. Chapter 23

As Stephanie kicked the door shut Paul realised that he did not have the do not disturb sign in place on the other side. "Wait one second." He pulled away from her, opened the door and hung the sign from the handle on the outside. He closed the door and turned back around to Stephanie and that was when he noticed it for the first time. He was not sure how he had not noticed it when she opened the door to her room upstairs, maybe he had been too focussed on wanting to kiss her. "What's that?"

Stephanie smiled sweetly at him, "Do you like it?" She was wearing a white t-shirt with the initials SMH on the front and underneath the words Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, her fictional married name. He grinned as he confirmed, "Yes I do."

"I thought so. They've just launched it, I need to wear it on the shows."

Paul moved closer to her, "I definitely like it." She then surprised him by removing the t-shirt and dropping it on the floor, "How about now?"

Paul's grin got even bigger at the sight of her in only her bra, "Oh yeah I like it even more now, on the floor is a good place for it." She pulled him to her and kissed him as she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. They spent a long moment enjoying the taste of each other until Paul dug his fingers into her ass as he picked her up. She yelped in surprise as Paul warned, "No biting this time, or scratches if you can help it."

"No promises," she purred directly into his ear and started nibbling on it. It felt strange to Paul but in a good way and he felt himself begin to get hard. As she was reaching around to work on his ear it left the side of her neck exposed so Paul began to kiss it. In between nibbles on his ear little moans began to escape her. Paul was not sure if they were voluntary or not but the were definitely a turn on as she made them right into his ear.

He walked them over to the bed and placed her down on it. Paul decided that it was time to try and find out where she liked to be touched. He worked around the bottom of her ribs on her left side with soft, gentle kisses and then across her stomach. As he did so he slipped a hand into her shorts and gently touched the insides of the tops of her thighs deliberately staying away from her vagina. He judged by her reactions that the area under her ribs was the place to kiss so he returned to kissing there. He also noted that this was likely to mean that she was vulnerable to tickling in this spot. He would remember that for future use.

He moved his kisses lower and removed her black shorts that really were short and then her underwear so that he could kiss the tender areas at the top of the insides of her legs. Pleased that she was shaved, he ran his tongue around her lips but did not go any further. It was all about building anticipation. After a few moments of this she ordered, "Come here." He did as she asked but he avoided the kiss that she attempted and went to work on her neck again and her moans resumed. Again she tried to kiss him but he made sure that he avoided her attempts and kissed the soft skin around the corners of her mouth instead. He purposefully denied her the chance to kiss him for several minutes no matter how hard she tried and he could tell that it was driving her crazy as he had planned.

Still denying Stephanie the chance to do anything he removed her breasts from her bra which she helpfully removed and tossed aside. He worked his way up her breastbone with the same gentle kisses and risked a nibble on the inside of one of her breasts. He worked his way over her breast and then began to lick the nipple. She was moaning louder now as the pleasure and also the frustration at being denied the chance to do anything increased. Paul knew that the payoff would be worth it as he spent a few minutes doing this to both breasts.

Eventually Stephanie could stand it no more and she aggressively pushed him off her and she was on him immediately, tearing off his jeans and his underwear almost as fast as he could have done it himself. He had denied her for so long and driven her wild with his kisses that she was frantic to get at him and she knew exactly what she was going for, she took his already hard length in her mouth and began working her tongue around it slowly as if it was particularly tasty ice cream cone. The sensation for Paul was incredible, she had such an amazing technique. What was even better was that as she did this she also kept making those moaning sounds and he could actually feel them as vibrations in his penis. It was driving him wild and he could not help his own moans of pleasure. He was about to unload but she abruptly stopped, "No. I'm not going to let you, until you fuck me."

She slid him into her and he felt that she was also more than ready. Her breasts and her hair were in his face as she began to move slowly with his thrusts and she gave him what she already knew that he wanted, she repeatedly moaned combinations of, "Fuck me," and, "Harder!" Once he even got a, "Fucking harder!" He did as ordered and his thrusts grew harder and harder as her breasts heaved in his face. He was desperately trying to ensure that she was first to come and as soon as he heard her moans get louder and felt her begin to shake in her orgasm he could hold himself no longer and he exploded into her with a loud moan of his own.

After she had rolled off the top of him Stephanie sat on the edge of the bed trying to regain her breath as Paul lay and did the same. She turned to him and smiled, "My god you drive me wild." He held out an arm to indicate that she could cuddle up next to him which she did as he said, "You're not too bad yourself. What you do with your tongue..."

"You like that huh?" She nestled her head into his shoulder and chest and as he wrapped his arm around her while assuring her, "You could say that I like it yes."

She looked up at him and grinned, "I'll remember that."

Paul lay there simply enjoying having her next to him. He closed his eyes and wished that this did not have to end but he knew that she would have to return to her room. There was certainly no way that she was going to sleep down here and risk Vince figuring out what had happened. The old bastard might be up there even now knocking on her door trying to make a nuisance of himself. They might be in deep shit already. Clearly Stephanie had just had the same thought, "I need to get back to my room Paul."

He held her tightly with the arm that was wrapped around her, "I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to go either but it has to be this way, for now at least." Stephanie then had an idea and she lifted her head and kissed him, "I'll give you something to think about before I go."

"How's that?"

"I have my wake up call booked for seven," she purred into his ear, "I'll be in the shower five minutes after that. That means there's a five minute window where someone could knock on my door..."

Paul already felt the anticipation as he laughed, "Seven huh? I'll be there." He watched as she sat up and retrieved her bra and underwear from the floor and put them back on, giggling as she did so, "Was I wearing anything else when I came down here?"

He laughed, "Yeah I think so."

Stephanie picked her shorts up next and pulled them on as Paul looked at her stunning legs. She walked over to where the t-shirt was on the floor near the door and put that on also. "Are you just going to lie there or come and say goodbye?"

"I don't want to say goodbye," Paul moaned as he got off the bed and walked towards her.

"Neither do I. How about see you in the morning?"

He kissed her, "See you in the morning." They kissed for another long moment but eventually she pulled away and opened the door and walked out. She smiled as she closed it behind her and all that Paul could think about was that he wanted more. This girl was something else.

Stephanie headed back to her room, relieved to see that her dad seemingly had not noticed her absence from her room. She would have loved to have been able to spend the whole night with Paul but for now they would have to get by like this. She entered her room and started the shower running thinking with a smile that at least the next time she did this Paul would be with her. She remembered his expression from the first time they had showered together as she had washed her hair. She was getting to know what he liked very quickly.


	24. Chapter 24

Paul's first feeling of the day was disappointment as he checked his phone upon waking and saw a text message from Stephanie: _Don't come up here dad is on guard duty already. See you at breakfast xxxx_

"Damn it Vince," Paul mumbled. He took a very boring shower alone and then dressed. He headed down in the elevator and walked into the restaurant where breakfast was being served. As he walked in he saw Vince, Shane and Stephanie sitting together eating. His eyes met Stephanie's and she risked a slight grin. Paul was not a breakfast person so he got himself a coffee and feeling brave he headed over to the table that Stephanie was sitting at. He had already seen that there was a spare seat. He walked over and as he approached he greeted those at the table, "Good morning, do you mind if I sit here?"

Before anyone else could reply Stephanie said, "Of course you can."

Paul sat down next to Vince, opposite Stephanie. "How is everyone?" Vince and Shane mumbled that they were okay. Unsurprisingly Stephanie's response was much more cheerful, "Great thanks, you?"

Paul tried not to laugh, "Yeah I'm good."

Vince finished a mouthful of his food and said to Paul, "So you're set for this Street Fight with Cactus Jack at the Royal Rumble? We're only just over a week away."

Paul nodded, "Definitely. That guy is crazy but it will make a great match for sure."

Vince said nothing else and Paul now wished that he had not sat at this table despite Stephanie being there, the atmosphere was too awkward. To make matters worse he caught Stephanie grinning at him over her coffee cup and it nearly made him laugh. He was not sure if Shane had picked up on it as he asked, "Do anything interesting last night Paul?"

"No, I was beat after my match. I ended up in bed early." He felt Stephanie kick him under the table as he drained his cup of coffee. "Well I'm out of here, I've got to catch a flight. See you guys on Monday."

Vince mumbled, "See you," and Shane nodded. Stephanie beamed, "Bye Paul."

Again Paul nearly laughed as he walked away. At this rate Stephanie was definitely going to get them busted. It was almost as if she was trying to.

* * *

Paul flew home that day which had been a rare thing for him to do recently. Previously he would either stay in hotels between shows or go back to Joanie's place with her. Thinking about Joanie's place made him realise that he still had things there, things that he was likely not to see again now. He looked around his crappy two bed apartment and realised that it was time to buy something better. He had the money but there had never been the need before as he hardly used the place. If this thing with Stephanie got serious he could hardly bring here and say 'welcome to my home' could he? Their place probably had fifty bedrooms and swimming pools and all kinds of shit like that. Yes, he definitely needed something better than this.

Looking for a house would give him a reason to spend the weekend doing something other than going to see his parents. That was grief that he did not need right now. He knew that the lecture he had received from his mom the previous night had been the tip of the iceberg. He would have to face it soon but not this weekend. He had hoped that Stephanie would call him but she had not and calling her was out of the question for obvious reasons.

* * *

Paul had checked into his hotel room on Monday afternoon and gone to get something to eat. He had no plans to eat after the show so he decided to have his usual steak now instead. He was waiting for it to be delivered when he got a text from Stephanie: _Are you in the hotel yet? xxx_

He sent back: _Yes I'm in the restaurant. Come down if you can x_

He got no response but a few minutes later Stephanie walked in. Paul laughed as he saw that she was wearing her white t-shirt and black shorts again, "Hey look, here's my wife."

Stephanie giggled as she sat opposite him, "I put these on specially for you. I'll have to change back again before we head to the show."

"Can you do that especially for me too?"

"No. Dad booked his room next to mine again damn it. It's like being in prison two nights a week."

"You know what that means?" Paul asked coyly.

"What?"

"Your dad's room is nowhere near mine."

She giggled again, "Good point. We're going to get busted you do know that, right?"

Paul laughed, "With your poker face we are. You nearly made me laugh twice Friday morning grinning at me."

Stephanie began to speak, "It's not my fault..."

"Oh shit," Paul sighed, cutting her off.

Stephanie's eyes widened, "What, is my dad here?"

"Worse."

Stephanie looked at him blankly, "What?"

"Stephanie meet my mom, Patricia." Stephanie's head snapped around and she saw that there was someone standing behind her. Paul said, "Mom this is Stephanie."

Patricia said, "Pleased to meet you," clearly not meaning it, "Can you tear yourself away from my son long enough for me to have a word in private?"

Stephanie stammered, "Uh... yeah. Sure. I'll see you at the arena Paul." As Stephanie hurried away Patricia watched her with a look of disdain, "That's who you threw Jo away for? Some..."

Paul cut her off, "Don't mom. Don't start insulting Steph, I'm not going to stand for it, I'll tell you that now."

Patricia sat down in the chair that Stephanie had vacated, "Well look at how she dresses for god's sake."

"That was a joke mom, a private joke."

"I dread to think," There was open disgust in her tone now.

Paul sighed, "Why are you here mom?"

"You know why. You didn't come home or even call me all weekend and you're not avoiding me that easily. You're going to leave this... Stephanie and you're going to make things right with Jo."

Paul rubbed his forehead in frustration, "It's over between me and Jo and I'm not 'leaving' Stephanie either." As Paul's steak arrived he settled down for the long haul. This argument would go on for a long time and Paul knew that nothing was going to change come the end of it. No one was going to come between him and Stephanie, not Vince or Shane and certainly not his mom.


	25. Chapter 25

Stephanie walked out of her father's office to go and get some coffee then find Paul. As she walked down the hallway she considered that this was a real mess. Paul's mother obvious hated her and Paul was on her father's shit list. Why could they not just be together and be happy? She had managed to get Paul away from that bitch Joanie at last and yet they were still not properly together. In a way all of this sneaking around was fun of course but what she really wanted was to be in a real relationship with Paul. She approached the catering area and saw that of all people Joanie was making coffee. Stephanie smiled to herself as she decided to try to get her back for her threats the previous week. Stephanie knew that Joanie would be easy to get a reaction from and she had an idea. As she approached Joanie from behind Stephanie recalled a few lines from a Marvin Gaye song that she had listened to earlier at the hotel and she sang them just loudly enough for Joanie to hear her, "I think I'm capsizing, the waves are rising and rising, and when I get that feeling, I want sexual healing..."

Sure enough Stephanie got a reaction but it was not a reaction that she liked. As she approached Joanie from behind Joanie turned around and practically threw her freshly made cup of coffee all over Stephanie's white t-shirt. "Oh sorry, didn't see you there."

Stephanie screamed as the coffee began to burn her as it completely soaked her t-shirt. She instinctively tore the t-shirt off to stop the burning and she heard someone whistle at the sight of her in her bra. Now the centre of attention in the room Stephanie heard male voices calling out and laughing as her face reddened as Joanie also laughed and then spoke at a volume that only Stephanie could hear, "I warned you."

Feeling tears of rage and embarrassment fill her eyes and trying to cover herself up as much as possible Stephanie threw the coffee soaked t-shirt at Joanie and growled, "I'll get you back for this," and hurried away to change into a clean t-shirt. After she had put on another of the white t-shirts she headed for her father's office. She barged in and ranted, "I've had enough with Joanie dad. She just threw hot coffee all over me and I had to take my t-shirt off in front of a bunch of the guys to stop it from burning me."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not burned but I'm pissed off! Do something about her!"

Vince sighed, "I thought I told you both to stay away from each other?"

"I only went to get coffee dad," Stephanie raged as she lied, "I walked up to her and she turned around and threw her coffee at me for no reason! I want something done and I don't mean get her in here and warn her again! I want something done!"

Vince raised a hand to quieten his infuriated daughter, "Okay just stop shouting. I warned her and she ignored me so I'll have something done. There are ways to get messages through to people in this place other than shouting at them."

"What are you going to do?" Stephanie demanded, still furious.

Vince thought for a few moments before providing an answer, "I'll take her out of the ring for a few weeks. She can manage Chris Jericho instead of wrestling him."

Stephanie tried not to smile or even laugh. "Ok that should teach her. Thank you dad."

"Don't go trying to piss her off about this Stephanie, I'm warning you. If I find out that you cause anything to happen between the two of you then you will be the one I punish for it. Clear?"

Stephanie mumbled, "Yes," and walked out of the office. After she had closed the door a smile appeared on her face. Joanie could enjoy being a manager now, the bitch. Hopefully she would never get the chance to wrestle here again before being forced out of the company.

* * *

Paul sat in his fake office waiting for Stephanie. Surely she was not avoiding him because of how his mom had spoken to her? Eventually she walked in and without even a greeting she demanded, "Guess what that bitch Joanie did to me?"

"I have no idea."

Stephanie raged, "She threw hot coffee at me and it completely soaked my t-shirt and it would have burned me so I had to take my shirt off and there were guys in there..."

"You took your t-shirt in front of some of the guys?"

"What did I just tell you? It was soaked in burning hot coffee that that bitch threw..."

Paul cut her off as he stood up, "Are you okay?"

"No, she could have burned me and she embarrassed me. Everyone will be talking about me, again "

Paul hugged her, "Calm down. Did you do anything to piss her off?"

"No," Stephanie lied once more, "I just walked up to get coffee and she turned around and threw hers at me. She didn't even spill it she actually threw all of it at me."

Still holding Stephanie Paul asked, "Have you told Vince?"

"Of course I have, what do you think I'm going to do? Nothing?"

"Calm down Steph, I meant that I was going to go and tell him myself. Jo is going to far, she could have actually hurt you."

"I know," Stephanie moaned sadly, "This is the worst day ever, I need someone to make it better."

"I'm not sure if this making it better or not but my mom wants to have dinner with us tonight."

Stephanie removed herself from Paul's embrace and looked up at him, "How would that possibly be making it better? Your mom obviously hates me."

"She doesn't know you so she can't hate you. Her problem is that she liked Jo and she's pissed that I cheated on her. She's pissed at me not you."

"I'm not sure Paul." Paul was unsure if she meant unsure about the meal or about the accuracy of his previous statement so he smiled, "I'll make sure it was worth it afterwards."

Stephanie finally managed a smile, "Will you?"

"Yes I will."

"What if we get caught?"

Paul shrugged, "Not much we can do about it. I'm not going to go around forever being afraid to spend time with my..." He stopped himself.

Stephanie's smile got bigger, "Your what?"

Paul voice grew nervous, "My girlfriend?"

Stephanie reached up and kissed him, "Don't say it like it's a question."

Paul returned the kiss which went on for as long as they dared to risk it before assuring her, "I won't."


	26. Chapter 26

"She said that she was going to come mom." Paul and Patricia had been in the restaurant for nearly half an hour but there was no sign of Stephanie. It was getting awkward but Paul was sure that Stephanie would not say that she was going to come and then no show, surely? Maybe Vince had stopped her or something?

"We should order something. She's not going to come." Patricia was obviously losing patience with waiting.

Paul sighed, "Okay then," and he signalled to a server and they both ordered their meals and Paul also ordered the fish option for Stephanie.

"You ordered her food when she's not even here?"

"I know what she likes and she will be here," Paul insisted with confidence that was in reality beginning to slip away.

Patricia attempted to resume the argument from earlier, "I still don't understand why you would throw away what you had with Jo. You were with her for years and you proposed to her and suddenly this girl Stephanie shows up and you throw it all away? You don't even know her Paul."

Now frustrated by this as well as Stephanie's absence Paul's response was a little firmer than the way he liked to speak to his mother, "Mom not this again please. We went through this how many times earlier."

"Well look, she tells you that she will join us for dinner and where is she?"

Once more Paul insisted, "She's not like that mom, she'll be here."

"So what is she like then?" He was now being put to the test, to see if he really did know anything about his new girlfriend.

"She's beautiful, she's funny and she's intelligent."

Patricia snorted, "Interesting the order that you put that in."

The battle to control his irritation was now one that he was losing, "Come on, Steph and I are serious about making this work."

"You were serious about 'making this work' with Jo until Stephanie showed up."

Paul was about to respond but he saw Stephanie enter the restaurant wearing an expensive looking red dress. He saw Stephanie locate him and as she walked over he already wanted this dinner to be over, god damn she was beautiful. He told Patricia, "Steph's here mom, please don't be rude to her."

Stephanie reached the table and greeted both of them, "Hi, sorry I'm late. I was uh... avoiding my dad." Paul noticed the glance that he got from his mother. She now knew that Stephanie's father was on her side in this too. Despite her obvious reservations Paul was pleased to hear Patricia speak as Stephanie sat down next to Paul, "I'm sorry about how I spoke to you earlier Stephanie. I am pleased to meet you."

Paul looked at Stephanie and saw her smile, "No need to apologise, I'm pleased to meet you too. I'd just like to say that I know how Paul and I being together so quickly after Paul split with Joanie must seem but we are serious about making this work."

"From what I heard you were together before Paul split with Jo."

Stephanie's face reddened and Paul said heatedly, "Mom! I asked you not to be rude!"

"It's the truth Paul, unless you're going to sit there and tell me that Jo lied to me about it?"

Paul was surprised to say the least when Stephanie admitted, "No, it's true. We both treated Jo badly but we had feelings for each other that we couldn't hold back any longer. We realised that we had to be together, right Paul?"

Paul nodded, "Yeah, that's right."

Patricia sighed, "I guess you both do seem happy together."

"We are," Stephanie confirmed. "I should order something to eat."

Paul grinned, "No need, I ordered yours for you." Patricia watched as Stephanie grinned back at her son, "Again? What did you get for me?"

"The same as the first time."

The smile remained on Stephanie's face and a moment later Patricia relented, "Okay, I won't give you a hard time any more but Stephanie don't play games with my son, he deserves better than that."

"I wouldn't do that to Paul, trust me," Stephanie assured her convincingly which caused Patricia to smile at last.

They conversation over dinner was pleasant and Paul was delighted with how well it went. When it was time to leave Paul realised that this was going to be awkward. He could not exactly say to Stephanie 'Your room or mine?' with his mom next to them so he whispered in Stephanie's ear, "Meet me back in the lobby," then said spoke to his mother, "I'll walk you back to your room mom."

Patricia laughed, "You can walk Stephanie back to her room, I'm fine by myself."

"No way, you flew all the way down here and you insisted on paying for the dinner so it's the least I can do." All three of them entered the elevator and when they reached Patricia's floor she said, "Goodnight Stephanie, lovely to meet you."

"You too," Stephanie smiled, "Hopefully we'll see each other again soon. Goodnight." Paul and Patricia stepped out of the elevator and Stephanie giggled to herself as she rode it back down to the lobby. This sneaking around could be frustrating but it was also funny.

Back upstairs Paul walked Patricia to her room and kissed her on the cheek, "Thanks for the dinner mom, I love you."

Patricia smiled, "I love you too. I'm glad that you're happy. I don't like the way you went about it but the fact that you're happy is what matters to me and to your dad."

Paul smiled back, "Thanks mom." He headed back to the elevator with the smile remaining on his face. Sneaking around behind Vince's back was fun, at least it would be until they got caught. The elevator arrived in the lobby and Paul found Stephanie waiting for him and she laughed up seeing him. Paul started laughing too as she admitted, "This is ridiculous."

"It is, let's go find your dad and..."

Stephanie hit him playfully and cut him off, "Your mom may not be hard work but my dad definitely is." This reminded Paul of something, "You said to my mom 'we both hurt Jo' what was that, you feeling guilty?"

"Fuck Jo," Stephanie spat, taking Paul by surprise, "I was telling your mom what she wanted to hear. I still owe that bitch for that coffee."

Paul sighed, "Really Steph? This is going to continue with the two of you?"

"Are we going to argue about that sour faced bitch or are we going to go upstairs?" Paul pretended to think about it and Stephanie hit him again. "Okay! Okay, we'll go upstairs. My room?"

Stephanie insisted, "No, mine. It will be more fun to do it with dad next door."

Paul laughed as he pushed the button to call for an elevator again, "Fun? You'll get yourself in trouble and me fired."

"Oh _I'll_ do that will I?" Stephanie mocked. "You won't have anything to do with it I suppose?"

"I might do," Paul took her in his arms and kissed her. They were lost in the moment as the elevator opened and someone walked past until they heard Shane's voice, "Hello Stephanie, Paul." They jumped apart but Shane was already walking away. Paul mumbled, "I'm fucked," and Stephanie giggled and then moved back closer to him and she purred into his ear, "Let's get upstairs and then I can be fucked too."

Paul smiled and felt himself begin to grow hard in anticipation, "I love it when you talk like that."

"I know."


	27. Chapter 27

Stephanie was laughing as she exited the elevator and it made Paul want to laugh too but he wanted to speak to her seriously. "Ssshhh you'll have your dad out here." Stephanie made a point of being totally silent as she opened the door to her room but as she closed it behind Paul she could not help laughing again. Paul turned around to face her, "Steph we need to tell your dad about us being together. He's going to catch us, probably in the next five minutes with the way you're going. He'll be mad if we tell him but it will be worse if we don't. That's if Shane doesn't tell him tonight or tomorrow anyway."

Stephanie walked over to him and wrapped her arms behind his neck, "Don't worry about my dad. I'll handle him when I catch him at the right moment. And don't worry about Shane either, if he wasn't okay with this we would have had a scene downstairs a few minutes ago." Paul put his arms around her and held her to him, "I want this to be a relationship, a proper relationship. I don't want to spend all of our time together worrying about your dad seeing us or hearing us."

"I'll deal with dad, trust me. I just need to get him at the right time."

"Will you do it before I see you on Thursday?"

"I'll try."

Paul felt like he was on a roll now, "I want you to stay away from Jo too. If you keep going at each other she's going to lose it eventually and you're going to get hurt. Just stay away from her, please?"

"Don't complain to me," Stephanie whined, "I'm the one who got burning hot coffee thrown over me for no reason."

"Was it really for no reason?"

The response was carefully phrased, "It depends if you call the fact that she hates me a reason I guess."

"You're sure that it didn't burn you?"

Stephanie removed her arms from around Paul's neck and then removed her dress as Paul watched. "See for yourself." Paul laughed with a huge smile on his face, "Where exactly should I check?"

Stephanie removed her bra, "I think it was mostly there."

Paul felt himself getting hard again, he liked this game, "Where? I don't see anything?" She moved closer to him and he made sure he looked carefully at her breasts as he held each one in turn in his hand, "Well I can't see any burns but..."

Stephanie giggled, "But what doctor?" Paul picked her up carried her over to the bed. As he put her down onto it, "I think a closer inspection is required."

"Are you sure?" Stephanie asked as innocently as possible. Paul began to kiss her breasts softly and in between kisses he assured her, "Definitely, there could be damage that's hard to make out." He spent a few minutes working his soft kisses all around both breasts and also licking her nipples and she purred, "What's the verdict?"

"I'm pleased to say that your breasts are perfect Miss McMahon."

Stephanie giggled, "Thank you doctor. Come here." She reached up and tried to kiss him but Paul avoided her only this time she insisted, "Oh no, you denied me last time. Not this time." She rolled over so that they ended up face to face on their sides and Paul felt her hand slide inside his pants and she began to unbutton his shirt with her other hand. As she began to rub him over his underwear Stephanie felt how hard he already was and purred, "Oh my."

Paul finished the work of unbuttoning his shirt and threw it aside. "What can I say?"

"Nothing," Stephanie clarified and made sure that this was true by kissing him. Paul began to groan in pleasure at the taste of her and the magic she was working with her fingers which were now underneath his underwear. He wished that she was using her mouth instead but this was getting the job done just fine. Paul unbuttoned his pants to give her greater room to move her hand and then shifted so that he was able to get his own hand into her underwear and he inserted two fingers in her and felt that she was already wet and warm. He began to touch her the same way he remembered doing it in the shower that first time. It had worked then and it worked now, she began to make those moaning sounds that he liked so much as they continued to kiss.

After a few minutes Paul used his other hand to remove hers from his underwear, he did not want it to go that far. He liked the fact that Stephanie also seemed not to like too much foreplay and it pleased him that he obviously drove her just as crazy as she drove him. Stephanie lay on her back again to allow Paul on top of her but instead of doing what she expected he shifted himself lower down the bed and then he replaced the two fingers that had been inside of her with his tongue. As he worked his tongue both on the inside and outside of her and even tried sucking on her lips he felt her quiver and between the usual moans he heard, "Oh god Paul." He continued and again she moaned, "Oh god... Paul."

"What?" He teased.

Her voice shook along with her body as she almost pleaded, "Just fuck me." Paul was more than ready but he was enjoying the reaction he was getting from her almost as much as she was and he ignored the request and continued. She pleaded again, "Fuck me Paul."

"Say please," Paul ordered her.

"Please Paul, fuck me, please." Unable to deny her or himself any more Paul roughly pulled down his pants and underwear and then more gently did the same for Stephanie and finally he entered her and he felt just how ready she really was for him. As his thrusts began she was already moaning loudly and he knew that he was near to the climax himself. Although she was moaning she was not doing what he liked most so he decided to try a bit of it himself, "Talk you dirty bitch. You wanted me to fuck you didn't you?"

She moaned again and then panted, "Yes but harder than this." He obeyed and she continued, "Don't be gentle, I said fuck me!" He thrust harder and harder and she was reduced to moaning noises and then as she reached orgasm she let out two very loud sounds that were somewhere between moans and screams. Paul could hold himself back no longer and with a moan of his own he unloaded into her and she pulled his head towards hers and kissed him.

* * *

In the next room Vince McMahon had just turned his TV off and climbed into bed. The rooms in this hotel may have been expensive but the walls were not as thick as you might expect and as Vince closed his eyes he heard two loud moaning sounds from the next room, his daughter's room, his daughter's moaning sounds. Moaning sounds like that would be made for only one reason. He closed his eyes again but this time it was an attempt to control his anger.


	28. Chapter 28

Stephanie sensed that her dad was in a bad mood. He had hardly spoken over breakfast and the journey to the airport was being made in silence. She had no intention of trying to ask him about whatever it was as she was already afraid that Shane way have ratted her out. She could not ask Shane as he had already travelled home separately so she occupied her mind with thinking about previous night. There was no doubt about it, Paul drove her wild. If only she could be with him every night. Half an hour later after their jet had taken off and they had some privacy Vince spoke out of nowhere, "You had Paul in your room last night didn't you?"

Stephanie instantly panicked and lied, "No."

"Well someone was in there," Vince growled angrily, "I heard you. If it wasn't Paul then who was it?" Stephanie realised that her father was going to go insane. Why had she not just told him before? And why had she insisted on going to her room instead of Paul's? What a fucking idiot. God damn it! She had not responded so Vince raged, "Answer me! Who was in there?"

Stephanie tried to use her tone to calm him, not that she expected it to work, "Okay dad please calm down. Yes Paul and I were in my room, we're together..."

Vince's cheeks reddened as he exploded, "The hell you are! What did I tell you before? I told you before you came on the road, you do not date wrestlers! That was the one rule I insisted on and we both agreed to it."

"Well I don't agree to it now," Stephanie pouted.

"I'm not discussing it Stephanie. You're too good for those guys and even if you weren't do you have any idea how many relationships I've seen between people who work for me? They never work out, ever. You're going to get hurt and I'm not letting it happen."

"It's not your decision," Stephanie hissed, her own anger now rising.

Vince raged, "Do you have any idea how it made me feel last night, hearing my only daughter..."

Stephanie's response was very unwise, "The opposite of how it made me feel I guess."

"Stephanie! That's it, this ends now. I warned you and I warned him but you both ignored me. I can't take Paul out of the title picture as he's one of the best guys we have, but I can take you off TV and send you back to the office full time."

Now Stephanie screamed too, "Like hell you can! I'm not having you control my life like that!"

"Whether you see it or not I'm doing what's best for you. This thing with Paul ends now or I end it for you."

"You're not going to give up are you? You're not going to let me be with Paul while we work together?"

Vince insisted, "No I'm not."

"Then I quit!" Stephanie yelled in her father's face before storming away from him and sitting as far away from him as she could. They both sat and raged silently for the next few minutes until Vince cracked and got up and walked over to his daughter. "Stephanie?"

Stephanie refused to look at him, instead looking out of the window at nothing and she hissed, "Go away. I hate you."

"You sound like a teenager Stephanie. Can't we talk like adults?"

"No. You're not controlling my life. Stick your job and your company up your ass, I quit. I'll date who I want and there's nothing you can do about it."

"You can't just quit," Vince now tried to make his tone a pacifying as possible.

"I have just quit. Get away from me, don't talk to me."

* * *

Unaware of any of this Paul drove his mom to the airport. They had spent the morning together shopping in the city but now it was time for her to head home. As he drove Patricia asked, "Are you sure you don't want to come home for a couple of days?"

"No thanks mom I'm staying on the road. I was thinking though..." his voice trailed off.

Patricia encouraged, "Thinking what?"

"Stephanie and I plan to tell her dad about us being together and when that's done I thought maybe she could visit us at home?"

Patricia beamed, "That would be real nice, we should do that. You think Stephanie's dad will give you both a hard time?"

Paul laughed but it was humorless, "I don't think, I know. He's my boss too so I dread to think what's going to happen to be honest."

"Don't worry, everything will be okay."

* * *

"Are you seriously going to ignore me for the entire journey home?" Vince asked Stephanie as their car drove towards home. Stephanie ignored him and Vince began to lose his temper again, "You're not going to act like this in my house Stephanie. Grow up before..."

"You want to me to quit your house too?" Stephanie hissed. "Fine, I'll move out. In fact to hell with this as soon as we get out of this car I'm getting a cab back to the airport and I'm calling Paul and I'm staying with him."

"Don't be like this Steph. You're really this desperate to be his throwaway girlfriend?"

Stephanie spat, "I'd rather be his girlfriend than your daughter." The words but Vince to the core. "Stephanie..."

"Paul wants to be with me and you just want to control me. I'm done with it. I quit your company and I quit your house and I quit your bullshit rules."

Now Vince realised that she was serious about all of her threats and that his anger may have caused him to go too far, "Let's get home and we can talk about it huh?"

Stephanie yelled to the driver, "Hey! Stop the car! I'm getting out." The car pulled over and Vince tried to tell his daughter, "You're not getting..."

Again he was cut off, "You're not controlling me dad. Go to hell." As Stephanie climbed out of the car she ordered the driver, "Get my case." She slammed the door shut and after the driver retrieved her case she stormed away, wheeling it behind her, looking for a cab to get back to the airport.

As Vince watched through the rear window he knew that he was not going to be able to talk his daughter back into the car so he left her to it and decided to call her that night when she had had a chance to calm down. Two things were now certain; Stephanie was serious about Paul and this situation was a real fucking mess.

* * *

Paul had just said goodbye to Patricia at the departures area of the airport when his phone rang. He removed it from his jeans pocket and saw Stephanie's name flashing at him. "Hey."

"Where are you?"

Paul noticed that his girlfriend sounded upset, "I just dropped my mom at the airport..."

He was cut off, "Stay there, I'm coming back." Paul was confused now. Why did Stephanie sound so upset and why would she want to fly back almost immediately after leaving? "Steph what's going on? What's wrong?" He could now tell that she had started to cry, "I'll tell you when I get there. Just wait for me please."

"Okay, I'll wait." The call ended at Stephanie's end and Paul looked at his own phone blankly as he mumbled at it, "What the hell is happening now?"


	29. Chapter 29

Paul sat and waited for twenty minutes in the arrivals area before he considered the fact that Stephanie had not told him where she was flying in from which meant that he did not know when she would arrive. Assuming that they flew home would mean that they flew to New York presumably. He needed to go check on arrivals. He walked over to a position where he could see the arrivals board and mumbled to himself, "Four hours?" He was not going to sit here for four hours. With that decision made he headed towards the exit and made a further decision, he would go somewhere to eat. He now suspected what this was about; Stephanie must have told Vince and he must have exploded at her. That had to be what it was but why was she flying back here? Was she coming to end it with him. God damn it, surely that could not be it?

* * *

Paul walked back into the airport three and a half hours later. He had spent the whole time worrying that Stephanie was going to end their very brief relationship. He stood around in the arrivals area until eventually Stephanie walked out, wheeling her case behind her. She was wearing a short skirt and a leather jacket and Paul could not help thinking how stunning she was as he walked towards her as she approached. As he got closer he saw that she looked like she was about to cry again. As they got close enough to each other he asked urgently, "Steph what's happened?"

She dropped the handle of her case and hugged him and began to cry. "I quit."

Paul returned her hug and comforted, "Hey, stop crying. What do you mean you quit?" She did not let go of him, seeming to need to be in his arms as she informed him, "My dad knew that you were in my room, he said that he heard us but I think that Shane must have ratted us out. Dad came with all his crap about how he wasn't going to let us be together as long as we worked together so I quit."

"You quit the WWF?" Paul was incredulous as he pulled back and looked into the tearful blue eyes of his girlfriend. Stephanie wiped at her eyes, "Yes and I told him I'm moving out. I told him that I quit his company and his house and his bullshit rules trying to control my life. I told him to go to hell and I came back here to be with you."

Paul tried to keep up with these revelations, "Steph this is crazy, what are you doing?"

"Not standing for his crap. I want to be with you Paul and I will be whether he likes it or not."

Paul hugged her again, "You can't do this. You can't throw your whole life away for me like this, this is insane."

Stephanie rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, "I can because I love you." Paul hugged her tighter with one arm as he heard those three words for the first time and used his other hand to lift her chin so that he could look into her eyes. He kissed her and repeated them to her, "I love you too." He saw her eyes fill with tears again but she did not say anything so Paul insisted once more, "You still can't quit your family's company for me."

"I don't care. If I have to choose between being with you or having my life ruled by my dad then I choose you and he can go to hell and take his company with him."

Paul was determined not to let Stephanie sacrifice this much for him but this was not the place to discuss it. "Let's go back to the hotel and we can talk about it."

* * *

Vince had tried to call Stephanie's cell phone but it was off and there was no answer from Paul either. Upon arriving back home alone and explaining what had happened he had received the riot act from Linda about how he had handled the situation and then when he had called Shane and told him he had gotten the same from him too. What was he supposed to do now? He did not know where Paul, and now Stephanie, were staying that night. He had called the hotel that they had been in the previous night but Paul had checked out. All he could do was wait for a call or hope that Stephanie showed up on Thursday with Paul for Smackdown. What if she was serious, what if his daughter had really left home and quit the company? What had he done?

* * *

"You've got to at least call home Steph, I keep telling you that. You've got to let your family know that you're safe," Paul gently insisted as they sat in the bar in the hotel that he had checked them into. Stephanie downed another shot of tequila, "I'm not speaking to him. If you're so keen on it then you call him."

Paul slid her empty glass away from her, "You've had enough of those too. Will you just listen? Call Shane if you won't call your dad. You need to call someone." Stephanie snorted, "Shane's just as bad, he ratted on me, on us."

"Do you actually know that or are you assuming?"

"I'm assuming. I'm also assuming that I need more tequila." Stephanie was slurring now, a clear sign that more tequila was definitely not what she needed. Paul tried persuasion as he drank some of his beer, "I'll buy you more tequila when you call someone."

"No," Stephanie huffed stubbornly.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Paul's patience was starting to wear thin now and Stephanie glared at him, "Excuse me?"

"Just stop being so stubborn, please. All you have to do is call home and let them know that you're okay. That's all."

Stephanie rambled drunkenly, "I can't. I know you're right about it but I can't do it. I can't talk to my dad today, I just can't. Would you do it for me?"

Paul sighed, "Steph it's fairly obvious that your dad won't want to talk to me don't you think?"

"Then forget it. Order another beer and get me more tequila."

Paul relented, "Fine, I'll call him for you."

"Thank you. I'll order more drinks. More drinks will be good. Drink is good."

"I'm not sure about good but I might need one in a few minutes." Paul stood to walk out of the bar to make the call but Stephanie surprised him by standing also and hugging him, "I'm not letting dad force us apart, no matter what happens. I love you."

Paul hugged her tightly in return, "I love you too. So we've decided? No matter what happens we stay together?"

"Yes. All I want is to be with you." They held each other for a long moment and when they separated Paul kissed Stephanie, "I'll be right back." Then he walked out of the bar into the lobby and reluctantly took out his phone and cleared the message about missed calls from Vince from the screen. Well, they had told each other that they loved each other twice today now and that they were committed to each other but Stephanie had quit her job and he was likely to get fired as a retribution. With a deep breath he called Vince's number.


	30. Chapter 30

"Paul, is Stephanie with you?" Paul had expected Vince to sound angry but he sounded closer to concerned than angry as he answered the call.

Paul answered calmly, hoping that this conversation could be concluded without an argument, "Yes she's here and she's fine. She's had a few drinks but she's fine."

"She told me that she's moving out of our house and quitting the company."

"I know Vince, she told me that too. She's refusing to even talk to you guys but give me some time and I'll get her to come with me to Smackdown on Thursday, okay?"

"You make it sound like you're doing me a favour." There was now irritation in the elder man's voice so Paul tried to diffuse him, "That's not how I meant it. I don't want Steph to leave home or the company but we have decided that we're staying together..."

Vince cut him off with an order not a request, "Just get her to Smackdown on Thursday. I told you not to go near her and now look at the mess we're in." The call was ended and Paul sighed. Of course this was being made out to be all his fault. Why could Vince not deal with the fact that he made his daughter happy? The guy really was a stubborn old bastard. Paul walked back into the bar and found Stephanie working on another drink. He flopped down next to her. "You're going to be dying tomorrow, you know that?"

Stephanie stared into her drink, "I don't care, I need this. What did he say?" Paul decided to be economical with the truth, "He asked if you were okay and he made it clear that I'm on his shit list, that's about it. I told him that you wouldn't talk to him tonight."

"No I won't," Stephanie insisted once more.

"You should come with me to Smackdown Thursday night and speak to him then." Stephanie drank some more but her slurred reply surprised Paul, "I will and if he doesn't change his attitude I will walk out. I know he doesn't believe that I will but I will Paul. I'm not going to have him controlling my life."

Paul took her drink away from her and finished it himself, even though he did not like tequila. "You're drunk Steph and you don't mean that. Come on, let's go upstairs." She slurred some more, "I'm fine and I do mean it."

Paul stood and Stephanie followed his example, picking up her leather jacket as she did so and immediately she realised that Paul was right, she had drunk way too much. She nearly fell sideways as she tried to walk but Paul caught her, "Come on, I've got you." Paul silently cursed himself for letting her drink so much. He had put a few beers away himself but he was nothing like as drunk as she was. He walked with her to the elevators and she began giggling, "I'm drunk and my life is a mess, but I'm happy."

As they waited for an elevator to arrive Paul asked, "Your life is a mess but you're happy? What are you rambling about?" The doors directly in front of them opened and they entered the elevator as Stephanie said, "I'm with you."

Paul kissed her as the elevator rose. "Remember how happy that makes you tomorrow when you're in the bathroom throwing up."

Stephanie giggled, "I don't get sick from drinking." Paul laughed as the doors slid open on their floor, "Right, we'll see about that." They made their way to their room and as Paul opened the door he said gave a grin, "Your palace awaits my queen."

Stephanie laughed as she walked into the room, "Really? You just called me queen?" Paul followed her in and laughed as he closed the door. "It was a decision between queen and snow bunny." Stephanie spun around to face him but lost her balance and ended up dropping her jacket on the floor and found herself sitting on the edge bed laughing, "Snow bunny? I like that."

Paul walked towards her, still laughing himself, "You must be drunk. I'm going to keep calling you that now though."

Stephanie had flopped backwards onto the bed and Paul said, "Come on get undressed and we can get into bed."

"I'm okay here," Stephanie mumbled. Paul pulled her up to a sitting position gently by one of her arms and helped her to remove her top and then tossed it aside. At the sight of her in only her bra he was tempted to try for some sex but he knew that was not going to happen with her in this state. He removed her skirt and tossed it on the floor next to her top and her jacket and then lifted her to remove the covers from under her. "I love you Paul," she mumbled, clearly close to sleep.

Paul gently placed her back down on the bed and placed the covers over her. He then removed his own jacket and then the rest of his clothes and got into bed next to his now already sleeping girlfriend. He lay on his side and wrapped an arm around her. "I love you too."

* * *

As Vince had ended the call with Paul he had muttered to himself, "Son of a bitch."

"Is Steph okay?" Linda demanded from the other end of the couch.

"Yes and Paul is going to get her to come to Smackdown so that we can talk. He makes out that he's doing me some kind of favour! He deliberately ignores me and continues to see my daughter behind my back and she ends up moving out of my house and I'm supposed to be grateful to him?"

"Calm down Vince. If you start raging like this on Thursday you're going to make things worse. Maybe we should just leave her and Paul alone huh?"

"No way," Vince raged, "I'm not sitting around waiting for my daughter to get hurt."

Linda mumbled, "You're not doing a bad job of it yourself." Vince stormed out of the room. The thought that his daughter was going to be spending tonight in some crappy hotel room with Paul Levesque made his blood boil.


	31. Chapter 31

Wednesday had not been eventful as predictably Stephanie spent most of it nursing a hang over. Now it was Thursday and Paul had driven them to the arena where Smackdown was being held. As they walked along a hallway looking for Vince's office Paul urged Stephanie, "Please do your best to make peace with your dad. I know you don't want to be living in hotel rooms with me and..."

Stephanie interrupted, "I don't care where I live as long as it's with you. You think I'm too much of a princess to live out of hotels?"

"Just make things right for both of our sakes. Here's his office now." Paul thought that he had done a good job of avoiding answering the question directly as Stephanie insisted, "I'm not backing down. He accepts that we are together or I walk out, it's that simple."

Paul kissed her, "You and your dad are too alike. I'm going to find my locker room, good luck."

"Thank you. I love you." As she knocked on Vince's door and entered Paul made himself scarce. He spent several minutes looking around but he could not find his locker room. As he continued searching he saw Shane walking towards him. Shane's greeting was friendly enough, "Paul."

Paul matched his tone, "Hey Shane. Listen about Steph leaving home, I didn't know or want her to do that okay?"

Shane shook his head slightly, "That's my sister. When she wants her own way she can be a real nightmare until she gets it. I'm sure you'll find out."

"You don't have a problem with us being together?"

"I don't interfere in other people's lives Paul, I'll leave that to my dad. I told you before and I meant it, as long as Steph doesn't come to me saying that you've hurt her we won't have a problem."

"So you didn't tell Vince that you saw us kissing?"

"Of course I didn't," Shane insisted indignantly, as if the accusation was offensive.

Paul sighed, "Steph thinks that you did."

"Great. Well you tell her that I didn't, okay?"

"Sure. Uh... Shane? Steph's in there with Vince now, what's going to happen?"

Shane laughed once but there was no humor in it, "You're talking about the two most stubborn people that I know and the two with the shortest tempers so you tell me?"

Paul let out a deep breath, "Oh god."

Shane slapped Paul on the shoulder, "Welcome to the McMahon family, it's a laugh a minute. I've got to get on, I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Paul mumbled and then as Shane walked away he asked more loudly, "Hey Shane, where's my locker room?" Shane stopped and Paul saw him sigh as he turned around, "Dad made sure that you don't have one. You're back in with the rest of the guys."

Paul shook his head at Vince's petty mindedness as he walked away and mumbled, "Fucking seriously?"

* * *

Stephanie walked into her father's office and saw him talking with Mick Foley. As he turned and saw her Vince asked Mick, "Can we carry this on later?"

"Sure." Mick walked towards the door and greeted Stephanie, "Hi Steph." Stephanie smiled at Mick, he was one of the few people who was nice to her around this place, "Hey Mick." Mick closed the door behind him and Vince began kindly, "Steph are you okay?"

"Of course I'm okay," Stephanie replied testily, "I've been with Paul why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Sit down and we can talk." Stephanie walked over and sat on the couch which was up against one wall. Vince walked over and sat next to her, "We need to sort this out and you need to come home."

Stephanie insisted, "I'm not coming home unless you accept that Paul and I are together."

Vince had been telling himself all day to remain calm when he spoke to Stephanie but even so he bristled at that, "Don't try to blackmail me Stephanie. I've already said..."

Stephanie reacted to his tone and leapt up, "I've already said that I'm not letting you control me. I'm with Paul and that's not going to change. I love him." Those final three words started Vince's anger rising and he stood too, "You do not love him. You've had him in your room and you've... been with him. That does not mean that you love him."

"Seriously?" Stephanie's voice raised even more, "You're going to try to tell me what I feel now too?"

"Don't raise your voice at me like that young lady," Vince growled.

Stephanie's voice remained raised, "Stop telling me what to do! I'm not a kid any more. I can speak how I want, I can live where I want and I can fuck who I want!"

Vince's eyes widened, "Stephanie!" Realising that this was going wrong he tried to calm himself before he continued, "This is what I mean, you're out of control." Stephanie was so angry that she was unable to stand still. As she paced around the office she raged, "I'm out of control? This is all my fault? I'm with a man who I love, a man who loves me! You should be happy for me but no, you're just a mean, stubborn, selfish old bastard!"

Vince exploded, "I'm your father and you will not speak to me like that! Get out!" Stephanie's eyes filled with tears of rage as she yelled back, "I'll get out and I'm never coming back! I quit! I hate you!"

Realising that he had lost his cool when he really should not have Vince walked towards his daughter and attempted to pacify her with his tone, "Wait Steph," but Stephanie was already out of the door and she slammed it as hard as she could behind her. Vince considered chasing after her but another shouting match in front of his employees was not going to help anything. He tried to calm himself but after a few seconds he could not manage it and he yelled, "Shit!" as he swiped everything from the top of his desk onto the floor.

Stephanie stormed along the hallway with her blood boiling and she reached meltdown as she saw Joanie standing ahead of her talking into her cell phone. What was it with this bitch? She always managed to appear at the worst time. Ignoring the fact the Joanie was already speaking Stephanie approached her and spoke nastily, "You can be happy now you ugly bitch, I just quit."

Joanie looked at Stephanie and ended her call without a warning to whoever was on the other end of it and smile appeared on her face. "You just quit? Really? That's great!"

"I'll have to spend all of my time with 'your' man instead."

Joanie's eyes narrowed slightly in anger, "You're welcome to each other. I have no idea what he sees in you, everything about you makes me sick you little slut. You're such..." Stephanie surprised herself nearly as much as Joanie by slapping Joanie as hard as she could on her left cheek. The sound echoed along the empty hallway and the impact had turned Joanie's head to the side. Stephanie was just thinking that this might have been a stupid thing to do when Joanie's head snapped back around to face her and at the same time Stephanie felt herself lifting from her feet and slamming against the wall behind her. Joanie's forearm was rammed into her throat pinning her to the wall and keeping her off her feet. It also left her unable to breathe. Her eyes widened and she tried to pull Joanie's arm away, not that that was going to happen, Joanie was much too strong for her. Joanie's nose touched Stephanie's own and her eyes were alive with hatred as she growled, "If we're going to start hitting each other one of us is going to get seriously hurt. I don't think it's going to be me, do you?"

Stephanie was panicking, she still could not breathe and there was no one else around to help her. She tried to gasp out a plea for Joanie to let her go but she could not even do that, a pathetic wheezing sound was all that emerged. Her legs kicked at Joanie and her hands scratched at her arm as she pathetically gasped for air, none of which had any effect. Joanie released her a long moment later and Stephanie crumpled to the floor, gasping in air as quickly as possible as Joanie growled down at her, "Touch me again Stephanie you pathetic little slut, please," and stormed away.

Moments later Stephanie regained her feet and staggered away still gasping for breath and now on the brink of crying too. She needed to find Paul and tell him what had happened and then she needed to get out of this place and never come back. She hated everything about this place and everyone in it.


	32. Chapter 32

As if things were not bad enough already now Stephanie could not find Paul's locker room. She had been searching for five minutes throughout this god damned maze of hallways and there was no sign of it anywhere. All she wanted to do was find Paul, tell him what had happened and then get out of the building away from all of these horrible people. She had somehow managed not to cry after being assaulted by Joanie, it was tempting to call the cops and report her for it but she would only deny it and then nothing would be done about it. Stephanie figured that everyone would take Joanie's side anyway, no one would stand up for her apart from Paul. Everyone else simply regarded her as a slut, a princess and a bitch which was completely unfair. What had she ever done to deserve any of it? She gave up on finding Paul's locker room herself which meant that there was no other choice but to ask the next one of these hateful wrestlers that she bumped into. Fortunately it was someone who at least liked Paul if not herself, Billy Gunn was walking along the hallway towards her. Due to her considerable frustration and anger Stephanie completely forgot her manners as they got close to each other, "Where's Paul's locker room?"

Billy looked down at her at her and his expression was not friendly, "He doesn't have one any more. Something about some silver spoon princess he's sleeping with?"

Stephanie felt her anger about to explode again at what she viewed as an unnecessary insult. She stood with one hand on her hip and tried to remain calm, almost succeeding. This was not how it appeared to Billy however as she spoke, "Where is he? Just tell me."

Billy wondered who this little bitch thought she was and what Paul saw in her. Sure she looked great but aside from that there did not seem to be much to like. "You know you could use some manners? He's in with the rest of the guys."

"Thank you," Stephanie mumbled before hurrying away. She already knew where the main locker room was. She turned to the left at the next opportunity and almost ran as she now knew the location of the man that she now considered to be the one person in her life who truly cared about her. She reached the black locker room door and without thinking about what she was doing she crashed through it. She saw that there were several wrestlers in there but she could not see Paul. She heard Bob Holly quip from the opposite end of the room, "Come to get your tits out again?"

As her face reddened in embarrassment finally Stephanie saw Paul. He had been hidden from sight as he was sitting behind where Bob was standing, taping up his wrists. He craned his neck around Bob to see who he was addressing and when he saw Stephanie he heard her plead with him almost desperately, "Paul?"

Paul leapt up from the steel chair he was sitting on and shoved Bob hard into some lockers and ordered menacingly, "Shut the fuck up dick head." D'lo Brown and The Godfather got in between the two men to prevent things going further but Paul was already heading over to Stephanie anyway. He put an arm around her as he led her out of the locker room and slammed the door behind him with his other hand, "What's happened Steph? You look, I don't know, it didn't go well though, right?"

Stephanie tried not to cry again as Paul led her a few feet away from the locker room door, "Dad is a bastard. All he wants to do is control me so I've quit. And then..." Paul gently turned Stephanie to face him and looked into her eyes as her cut in, "Wait, you quit for real? You've actually quit?"

"I just said that. Yes I quit and then..."

Paul sighed inwardly before he cut in once more. Why could she not just pull her head in and apologise to her dad or whatever it took to stop this mess from getting worse? She did not even have to mean it for god's sake. As he spoke he realised that he sounded exactly how he felt, angry, "God damn it. Could you not just make some effort? How many times have I asked you these past two days and how many times tonight to fix things with your dad?"

The night had gone badly enough for Stephanie already without Paul getting pissed off with her too. What the hell was wrong with everyone? It began to get too much for her and she lost control again and yelled at him, "Fine! You win! Dad wins! Everyone wins apart from me! I'll go tell him that we're over shall I?! Is that what you want?!"

Paul raised a hand defensively. He had not expected to hear that kind of outburst, "Stop shouting! You need to calm down." But Stephanie did not calm down, "I'm fighting for this relationship! I'm fighting for you and you don't give a fuck!"

The accusation made Paul even angrier, "Don't stand there and tell me that I don't give a fuck! I'm putting my career on the line by being with you, you know that as well as I do!" The argument was interrupted by a familiar woman's voice from a few feet along the hallway in the opposite direction from the locker room. There was obvious amusement in the tone, "Want me to call Jerry Springer?" Stephanie's anger immediately shifted target to the new presence in the hallway and she raged at Paul and pointed, "That fucking bitch tried to strangle me!"

Paul found this hard to believe but he narrowed his eyes at the new arrival, "Jo?" Joanie smiled sarcastically, "Look at me and look at her. You think that scrawny bitch would be standing there now screaming in that stupid high pitched voice if I had wanted to strangle her?" Stephanie yelled, "Fuck you! At least I don't look like a man!"

Joanie's reaction to the insult was to begin to walk towards Stephanie but Paul had already anticipated it and he stepped in between them, "Back off Jo, I'm not going to let you hit her." Joanie smirked, "I didn't come to hit the pathetic bitch, I came to return this," she held out Stephanie's white t-shirt past Paul's side towards Stephanie and added sarcastically to her, "I washed it for you, I think you must have spilt coffee on it."

Before Paul could respond the memory of the coffee throwing incident came back to Stephanie and it added to everything else that had happened that night and pushed her past the point of meltdown. This time she did not slap Joanie, she did something she had never done to anyone before in her life. She moved quickly and before Paul could react she came around the side of him and punched Joanie as hard as she could aiming only to make contact with her face. Stephanie's punch was hardly powerful but by pure chance it made clean contact with Joanie's nose and there was a cracking sound as it impacted. It does not take much force to damage a persons nose and Stephanie's punch broke it.

Joanie's head snapped to the side with the impact as with the earlier slap and Paul yelled in genuine shock, "Steph! What the fuck are you doing?!" He had turned back around to face Stephanie intending to drag her away before things got worse but he was already too late for that. Joanie had recovered from the shock of the punch and had felt and tasted the blood flowing from her nose. With a scream she launched herself at Stephanie.

Stephanie had been focussed partly on the fact that her hand hurt and also wondering why she had done what she had just done until she heard the scream and fortunately she reacted as quickly as Paul did. Stephanie ran and Paul grabbed Joanie around the waist as she lunged past him. Both of these actions certainly saved Stephanie from a visit to the hospital, probably a long one.

Keeping his tight grip on Joanie Paul yelled at his girlfriend who had retreated all the way to the end of the hallway as he saw that she was holding her right hand with her left and that she now had a smile on her face, apparently satisfied that she had finally emerged from an encounter with Joanie with the upper hand, "Just get back to the hotel will you for fuck's sake!" Joanie was struggling in his arms and yelling, "Let me at her you bastard! Get off me!"

Stephanie vanished, apparently taking Paul's advice. The next thing to make things worse was a round of applause from the guys who had been in the locker room. They had obviously emerged to see what all the shouting was about and had been enjoying it very much indeed. Someone shouted, "Fucking brilliant!" Someone else asked, "Who's got the popcorn?"

Paul was unable to get any angrier and his face was bright red as screamed at them as loudly as he could, "Fuck off! Now!' Such was the venom in his voice that they actually did as ordered and went back into the locker room without a further word being spoken by anyone. Paul still had hold of Joanie and she was still raging to be set free from his grasp and to be able to get her hands on Stephanie. Paul thought that his head may explode so he took a deep breath and then released her and said as calmly as he could manage, "She's gone Jo. Go see the doctor and get that looked at." Joanie turned around and looked Paul in the eye and he could see that she was still way beyond livid. She stood there with blood flowing down over her mouth and chin which she attempted to wipe away as she barked, "You tell her that if she ever comes within striking distance of me again I'll do much worse than this to her regardless of it costing me my job. You got that?"

Paul could see that she meant it so he just said, "Go get that looked at, it's broken." Joanie shoved past him, "I fucking know it is." Paul was simply relieved that she was leaving and he was even more relieved that Stephanie had left too. What the hell had gotten into her tonight? He stood in the hallway for a full thirty seconds with his eyes closed attempting to calm down. When this was at least partially accomplished he opened his eyes and turned around and immediately saw Pat Patterson walking towards him, "Vince wants to see you."

Paul looked up to the heavens, "For fuck's sake Stephanie!"

* * *

Later that night Paul approached his hotel room door and considered all of the possibilities for when he opened the door. Stephanie could be in there asleep, that would be the one he preferred most. She could be in there having already been murdered by Jo, that was the worst be still very possible situation he could think of. She could be in there drunk or she could not be in there at all. She could have left him or she could have been arrested for assaulting Joanie. There was only one way to find out, Paul unlocked and opened the door quietly in case Stephanie was asleep.

It seemed unlikely as the first thing he noticed that the radio was on and turned up loud. Paul walked into the room, still unable to see Stephanie as the bed was out of sight around the corner. He could hear her singing along to the end of the Phil Collins song that was playing, slurring and out of tune, clearly drunk, "It's just another day for you... you and me in paradise." A few seconds later she continued, "It's just another day, for you and me, in paradise."

Paul could not help the smile that came to his face as he shook his head. This girl may be crazy and very hard work, she may have broken his ex girlfriend's nose and nearly been killed for it, she may have caused him to end up in Vince's office getting the good news for almost fifteen minutes but even considering all of that there was no doubt about it. He loved her and none of those things would even come close to making him think otherwise.


	33. Chapter 33

Three weeks had gone by and Paul thought that it would be hard for things to get worse, at least as far as work was concerned. It was being made obvious that he was considered to be responsible for Stephanie's absence, considered by Vince at least. He still had not been given his own locker room back and Vince flat out refused to speak to him. The old bastard had even walked right by him in the hallway and blanked him more than once. It was ridiculous, it was as though Vince genuinely believed that this was anyone else's fault other than his own. Paul expected to get the news at any time that he was going to have to drop the belt to someone, probably The Rock. He certainly imagined that his dream of a Wrestlemania main event had gone west long ago. He was determined not to let Vince's mind games get to him, it was his own fault that his daughter had quit the company and moved out of their house. She had made it quite clear that she would do it but Vince had been too stubborn to listen. Paul was sure that all Vince needed to do was call Stephanie and apologise and ask her to return to work and come home and she would do. What was wrong with the guy? How could three weeks go by without Vince realising that their relationship was going to continue no matter what he did?

At least things were still going great with Stephanie. She had been out of control at the time when she had quit but since she had been away from the WWF she had calmed down and although they had been living out of hotel rooms the whole time they were incredibly happy. Paul laughed as he remembered Stephanie punching Joanie in the face and breaking her nose. If Stephanie ever did return he imagined that Jo might think twice before attempting to get a reaction. Or maybe things would blow up and someone would get hurt again, on second thoughts it was not so funny. Today was Friday and Paul had been looking forward to it all week. There would be no hotel room to sleep in tonight, they were going to fly home and stay at his parents place. Stephanie had already had dinner with his mother one night but she had never met his father and Paul was hyped and proud to properly introduce his girlfriend to his parents.

The problem was that suddenly Stephanie did not seem as pleased about it as he was. Up until today she had been fine but today something was clearly wrong. Paul wondered if it was a recurrence of the illness that had suffered with at the start of the week. They had just left for the airport and Stephanie was sitting silently in the passenger seat of his car. "What's wrong?" Paul asked gently. "You've hardly said anything all day."

"I'm fine." The reply was short and tense which convinced Paul of the opposite. He was determined not to let today get ruined by whatever was troubling her, clearly it had to be talked about whatever it was so he tried persuasion, "Come on Steph don't be like this. Don't tell me that you don't want to go to my parents place? I thought you were looking forward to it."

Her neutral, almost blank expression remained unchanged, "I am looking forward to it and I'm fine. Please don't go on to me." Paul glanced at her again, "You're not sick again are you? We can put this off until next week if you are."

"I said I'm fine."

Paul left it at that until they reached the airport. They checked in and had a small amount of time to kill before boarding their flight. They had been sitting in the waiting area for a few minutes when he heard Stephanie let out a deep breath and then get up. He looked at her and she headed for one of the shops. Paul got up to join her but she waved him away, "Stay there, I'll be right back."

Paul sat back down again wondering what on Earth had gotten into Stephanie. Something very strange was going on that was for sure. He realised that he was nervously playing with his watch, he was starting not to look forward to getting to his parent's place at all now as he did not want them to think that this was what his girlfriend was really like. What was it with women sometimes? Why would she not just tell him what was wrong? A few minutes later Stephanie returned with two bottles of water and some magazines. She gave him a smile but he thought that it looked forced rather than stunning as they usually did as she handed him one of the bottles. He decided to make yet another attempt, "Thanks. Steph I can't help you if you don't tell me..."

She cut him off immediately, "Look I'm just nervous okay? The fact that you keep asking me is making it worse so could we just get there please?" Paul closed his eyes for a second. He was no expert on reading people but he did not have to be to figure out that the reason she had just given him was bullshit.

* * *

After their flight had landed and they had collected their bags Paul made yet another attempt to get Stephanie to open up before they met his dad who was going to drive them home, "Is it your dad? Has he called you?" He watched as Stephanie's eyes closed and her mouth twitched in obvious irritation before the reply came, "For the last time I just want to get to your parent's place and I want you to stop asking me what's wrong. I'm okay, just stop it!"

As they headed through to the arrivals area Paul shook his head slightly as he was thinking that if Stephanie started going into what he referred to as princess mode today and made herself look bad in front of his parents he was going to be a lot less than happy. It was at that moment that Paul saw his dad waiting for them. He led Stephanie over to him and greeted, "Hi dad," and then the two men hugged. Paul's dad said, "I've missed you son, we both have. It's been so long."

Paul released his dad and admitted, "I know, I'm sorry. We've had a lot to deal with. Dad this is Stephanie, Steph meet my dad, Paul." Paul was pleased to see Stephanie smile warmly and say, "Very nice to meet you." Paul thought that his dad sounded a little nervous, "Nice to meet you too Stephanie. Uh... can I carry your bag?"

"Thank you." Stephanie handed it over. They headed out of the airport and as Paul's dad drove them towards his house Paul was relieved that Stephanie joined in the conversation and whatever the previous problem had been seemed to be behind her or at least she was making a better job of hiding it. The conversation also seemed to put his father's nerves at ease and the conversation was flowing freely by the time they arrived home.

Paul's parents owned a reasonably sized four bedroom house but even so Paul found himself wondering what the house was like that Stephanie was used to living in, certainly it must be a lot bigger and more luxurious than this. Paul found himself considering that maybe that was the problem, maybe Stephanie considered staying in his parent's house to be beneath her or something? Surely that could not be it, he was ninety nine per cent sure that although Stephanie could act like a princess at times she was not that bad. After all she had been living in hotel rooms with him for weeks. No, that could not be it. Thinking about it for so long had started to give Paul a headache.

They all got out of the car and Paul unloaded the bags from the trunk and handed Stephanie's over to his dad who was on carrying duty again. As they walked over to the front door it opened and Patricia appeared with a huge smile on her face and she rushed over to Paul, "Hello darling I've missed you so much." She grabbed him in a hug as he said, "Hey mom, I've missed you too."

Next was Stephanie's turn to receive a hug which surprised her a little as Patricia greeted her, "Great to see you again Stephanie, come in, please." Stephanie said, "Hi Patricia, thank you for inviting me." Paul saw that his father had already entered the house and he followed his mother and his girlfriend as they too entered and he closed the door behind him and heard Stephanie speaking to his mother, "You have a lovely home." Clearly that was one thing to cross off of the list of possibilities.

Paul dumped his bag near the bottom of the stairs next to Stephanie's and followed everyone into the living room. He flopped down onto one of the black leather couches next to Stephanie and sighed. Today had been a long and stressful day but he figured that at least the travelling was behind him now. Patricia asked if anyone would like a drink and then headed off to the kitchen to fulfil the requests. Stephanie got up and asked, "Where's the bathroom Paul?"

"Top of the stairs, turn right, first door."

Stephanie left the room and Paul's dad asked him, "Is she okay? She looks... stressed maybe?" Paul shrugged, "She's been like it all day dad. I think she's just nervous to meet you guys and to stay here. She'll be fine when she's settled in I'm sure." The two men chatted away for a few minutes as there was a lot to catch up on. Eventually Stephanie's voice came from the doorway, "Paul I need to speak with you."

Paul flashed a look of confusion at his dad which could not be seen by Stephanie as she was in the opposite direction. He stood and walked out of the living room and followed Stephanie to the end of the hallway and then saw her begin to climb the stairs. He asked, "Where are you going? What's going on?" Stephanie gave no reply so Paul followed her up the stairs and she stopped in the hallway and turned to face him as he told her, "You're acting really strange today you know that? What are we doing up here?" He suddenly took in the frightened expression on her face and asked more gently, "Steph? What is it?"

Stephanie was not wearing one of her short skirts as it did not seem appropriate for today's occasion, instead she wore jeans and a t-shirt. She put her hands into her pockets and spoke very quietly and nervously, "We needed to talk in private. You're going to hate me." Paul's first thought was that she was about to tell him that she had slept with someone else but that made no sense. Why would she tell him now and when would she even have had the opportunity? He was totally confused now so he simply asked, "What?"

He saw tears fill her eyes and when she spoke it was so softly that he thought he may have misheard, "Paul I'm pregnant." Clearly he had not misheard as she then removed a pregnancy test from the pocket of her jeans and showed it to him.


	34. Chapter 34

Paul took the pregnancy test that Stephanie was holding out towards him and looked at it as he heard her speak timidly, "Are you angry? You're angry, right?"

Stephanie watched Paul look at the test and study it for a second, dreading his response which eventually came quietly, "Am I angry?" His tone made it perfectly apparent to her that he was. This was exactly what she had feared. Then she saw him look up from the test and at her and a huge smile burst onto his face and his eyes lit up in excitement. She then realised that he had been playing with her. He sounded overjoyed as he grabbed her in a hug, "How could I be angry? We're going to have a baby. I can't believe it."

Stephanie had let out a little squeal of delight when she heard that her boyfriend was happy about the news as she was ecstatic herself, she had just been terrified that Paul would not feel the same way. They were still embracing each other and Stephanie was blinking away the tears that she had been about to shed a moment before when Paul said worriedly, "Don't those things give out false positive results sometimes? You should do a second one so that we know for sure."

Squeezing him tightly Stephanie clarified, "That is the second one. I did one this morning in the hotel room, that's why I've been acting the way I have all day. I'm pregnant Paul." She thought that Paul sounded like he was a little child himself on Christmas morning, "Oh my god. I love you so much. Mom and dad will be so happy, let's go tell them."

He released Stephanie from his embrace as she cautioned him, "I love you too but we really shouldn't tell people this early Paul. You know, in case." Stephanie saw that Paul was way too excited to consider the logic of what she had said and this was confirmed when she heard, "I'm not going back down there and not saying anything. Come on." Stephanie laughed as Paul raced down the stairs and she followed at a more sensible pace. She was overjoyed and relieved that his reaction had been the exact opposite of what she had imagined it would be. Now she could not even figure out why she had assumed that he would be angry. She knew someone who quite possibly would be angry but that was a problem for another time.

By the time Stephanie reached the bottom of the stairs Paul was already in the kitchen at the opposite end of the hallway and she could hear his excited voice, "Mom come into the living room please." Patricia said, "I'm making coffee Paul you can see that. Give me a minute." Stephanie waited near the living room doorway and smiled as she heard Paul plead, "No come now please. Come on." Patricia laughed, "What's wrong with you? Are you high?" They both walked out of the kitchen and Patricia saw the smile on Stephanie's face and asked with a smile of her own, "What are you two up to?"

As he led the way into the living room Paul announced, "Mom, dad, we've got something to tell you." Stephanie followed them into the living room and looked at Paul as he delightedly broke the news to his expectant parents, "We've just found out some amazing news. Steph is pregnant." As he was saying it Stephanie suddenly imagined that they might get a lecture about being irresponsible as they had not been together very long or something but this was not what happened. Patricia was standing near to Stephanie as she heard the news and she immediately turned and hugged Stephanie as she said, "Oh Stephanie, I'm so pleased for you. Congratulations." Paul's dad had got up from the couch was hugging and congratulating his son and then the two parents swapped over and more hugs and congratulations were issued and accepted.

Paul had a smile on his face that he thought might have to be surgically removed. His girlfriend, the love of his life was pregnant. They were going to have a baby. Not only that his parents appeared to have taken a liking to Stephanie. He was overjoyed for the entirety of the rest of the evening as he sat on the couch with his pregnant girlfriend in his arms enjoying the conversation with his parents. As he held Stephanie he unconsciously had a hand on her stomach the whole time. Life could not possibly get better than this.

* * *

Paul finished cleaning his teeth and walked back into the guest bedroom that belonged to himself and Stephanie for two nights. Stephanie was already in bed with the thick cover wrapped around her and Paul quickly undressed and climbed in beside her and lay down. After pulling some of the cover over to his own side and over himself he got comfortable and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, around her stomach. As she had her back to him Paul could not see Stephanie's smile or the tears of happiness that began to collect in her eyes as he spoke to her in something close to wonder, "Our baby is in there."

Stephanie held his arm to keep it in place, not that he intended to remove it, "I know, it's amazing." After a pause she said, "Paul, I've been doing a lot of thinking today. This changes a lot of things. We have to change the way we're living and I have to grow up."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to have to call my dad tomorrow and end this stupid... whatever it is. I need to fix things with my family and I need to get back to work. We're going to need all of the money we can get because we're obviously going to need to buy a house. We can't go on living out of hotel rooms for much longer." Paul was overjoyed yet again at her change in attitude. Her pregnancy was the best thing that could have possibly happened for them and for so many reasons. He could not help wondering what Vince's reaction would be if, when, Stephanie told him, "You're going to tell your dad that you're pregnant?"

"Well we've told your parents so I see no reason not to. Surely my family will be as happy as yours? Or happy at least?" Paul could tell that she was not convinced by her own words and neither was he. They lay there chatting for some time about what their future plans were going to be before Paul realised that Stephanie had drifted off to sleep. Paul was still much too excited to sleep himself and he kissed the back of her head and whispered, "I love you Steph."

* * *

There had been a very different atmosphere in Vince and Linda's kitchen earlier that night. Yet another argument had erupted between the two over Stephanie and Linda was raging, "Three weeks Vince! I haven't spoken to my daughter for three weeks and it's your fault! She won't answer my calls or Shane's calls and it's all because of your stupid stubborn attitude! I've had enough! You hear me? Enough! You're going to call her tomorrow and fix this!" She finished stacking some plates in a cupboard and slammed the door closed, causing the objects inside to rattle.

Vince watched this from the doorway with a tired expression on his face. He missed his daughter too and he was coming to the realisation that Stephanie was not going to see things his way and come home. He held up his hands to placate his furious wife, "Alright, alright. Stop shouting. I'll call her tomorrow and tell her to come home."

Linda continued to rage as she removed more items from the dishwasher, "No you won't! You'll _invite_ them _both_ to come here! Stephanie and Paul are together and if they are happy then we should be happy for them. I don't know Paul but I trust Stephanie's judgment, if she's happy then I'm happy. You fix this Vince and you fix it tomorrow. I want our daughter back in my life, is that clear?" Linda rarely lost her temper and when she did it was almost never to this extent so Vince caved in, "Yes, perfectly clear. I'll call Steph tomorrow and invite them both over here and we can all talk. We'll talk her into coming back to work and back home."

Linda stopped what she was doing and stood facing Vince. When she spoke she was a little calmer, "Be realistic Vince, she's probably not going to move back home now is she? She's living with Paul."

"Yeah living out of god damned hotel rooms," Vince's voice rose in anger. Linda's face reddened as she yelled, "Vince for the final time! If you don't fix this we're going to lose our daughter!"

Vince closed his eyes and rested his head against the wooden door frame in resignation, "Okay. You win. I'll accept that Steph and Paul are together and I'll invite them here and we'll all talk." Linda turned around and resumed her work without reply, banging around with the items that she was unloading from the dishwasher. Vince walked away to head back to the living room and cursed himself silently for his stubbornness and his temper and he also cursed the fact that he had passed both of those traits on to his daughter. He told himself that Linda was right though, it was time to fix this and accept that his daughter was with a man she loved.


	35. Chapter 35

After a very enjoyable dinner had been finished and Stephanie's offer to wash the dishes had been rejected by Patricia she had put on her leather jacket and headed out into the large garden. This phone call needed to be made in private. Stephanie sat down in a seat at the patio table and took her phone from the pocket of her jeans. She sat there with it in her hand as it was suddenly a struggle to make herself call her dad. She knew that she had to do it but she had been putting it off all day. When she did call him what would she say? She had been trying to run the possible conversation through her head but it had not really helped. Apologising for her attitude and agreeing to return to work would not be a problem as she had accepted that those things needed to be done. The problem was going to be how and when to tell her family that she was pregnant.

Taking in a deep breath Stephanie opened her phone and noticed that she had missed calls from her mother and from Shane, again. They had been calling multiple times per day ever since she had left home but she had kept her phone on silent mode the whole time and ignored the calls and had not replied to the text messages either. She considered calling Shane instead but then she told herself again that it was time to grow up now that she had a baby to be responsible for. It might be very early in their relationship but she was starting a family with Paul and acting like a spoiled teenager was no longer an option.

Commanding herself not to drag this out any longer as the apprehension was making things worse Stephanie scrolled through her contacts and then called her father's number. The call went through and as she listened to the ringing sound she was still not sure if she preferred to get an answer or not. She did get an answer and Vince's voice sounded as though he had been very pleased to see her name on the screen as he answered, "Stephanie? Sweetheart? Are you okay?"

Suddenly Stephanie had tears pooling in her eyes. The sound of her father's voice had brought the realisation of how much she missed her family to forefront of her mind, "I'm okay dad but I miss you guys." The feeling was obviously mutual from the tone and the words that she heard next, "Then come home. We miss you too."

Wiping her eyes with her free hand but still failing to prevent tears escaping them Stephanie said, "I want to come home but I'm with Paul dad. I'm not leaving him, ever. So if you can't..."

"I know I reacted badly before Steph," Vince cut in, "But I know that you love Paul. I'm not going to insult everyone's intelligence by saying I'm happy about it but I'm willing to accept it. We would like you both to come home and we can sit down and talk like adults instead of screaming at each other like kids. Can we do that princess?"

Stephanie gave up on her futile attempts to stop her tears as they were now flowing much too freely down her cheeks, "Yes. Yes we can. I love you dad."

"I love you too sweetheart. Your mom would like to talk with you, if that's okay?"

"Yes." As the phone was being passed over Vince must have thought incorrectly that he had covered it properly as Stephanie heard a whisper that she presumed she was not supposed to, "I think she's crying."

Linda's voice quickly came on the phone, "Steph are you okay darling?" Trying and failing to stop crying Stephanie said, "Yes. I just miss you guys and I want to come home. I want you to be happy for me and for Paul. I love him mom, I love him so much." The crying had gotten worse with each word.

"I know you do and I am happy for you," Linda assured her daughter as soothingly as she could. She was clearly able to tell from her voice that she was crying heavily and it brought tears to her own eyes as she continued, "You know how stubborn your dad can be. You're as bad as each other but I know that this time he's the one in the wrong and now so does he. Just come home Steph, please?"

Finally managing to get some semblance of control over her emotions Stephanie said, "I will mom. We're at Paul's parents place until tomorrow and then Paul has to be at Raw Monday so we'll come home Tuesday?" It was a lot better than nothing but Linda said, "I wish you could come sooner."

Stephanie had almost managed to stop crying now and now she wanted to get off the phone as she felt the urge to tell her mother her news but at the same time she feared the reaction, "So do I mom but I can't. Tell dad I want to come back to work too okay? I need to get back inside the house."

"He'll be delighted to hear that darling, I love you."

The agony of not being able to tell her parents her news and the dread at the possible reaction, particularly from her father suddenly added itself to the incredible upset Stephanie was feeling due to being away from her family and it was all too much for her to cope with. Tears began to flow again and she was almost begging for a positive reaction as she blurted out, "I'm pregnant mom."

There was silence on the other end of the phone which made Stephanie consider three possibilities. Hopefully Linda was trying to get away from Vince to continue the conversation but it was equally possible that she had fainted. Or maybe the phone's signal had died at that exact moment? There was only one way to find out, "Mom are you there?" Stephanie guessed that she might have been correct with her first assumption as she heard Linda's hushed reply, "Oh... my god."

"You just walked away from dad didn't you?" Stephanie asked. Linda sounded shocked but neither happy or angry which left Stephanie confused, "Yeah. Pregnant? You're sure?"

"Yes mom. We found out yesterday, I did two tests. I wasn't going to tell you like this but it just kind of came out. Please tell me that you're happy for us?" Stephanie pleaded with tears yet again pouring from her eyes.

"Of course I am Steph, I'm sorry. I'm delighted for you. Congratulations to both of you. I'm just worried about how your dad will take the news. Please stop crying darling." Stephanie was worried about the same thing and she pleaded, "Mom can you please tell him for me? Please? I don't want to do it myself. I want to come home, I want to come home with Paul but we can't if dad's going to go wild at us."

There was a sigh on the other end of the call, "I'll talk to your dad. Come home on Tuesday as we said okay?"

Stephanie sniffed, "Okay. I miss you mom. I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart. Please don't cry any more. I'll talk to your dad and we'll see you both on Tuesday."

Wiping at her eyes again Stephanie said, "Ok, bye mom."

"Bye Steph, love you." With that the call was ended. Stephanie sat where she was for several moments as she stopped crying and tried to wipe her eyes to hide the fact that she had been. She had not expected to get so upset but the sound of her parents voices had finally made her realise how much she hated being away from them. Finally feeling under control and also feeling cold from sitting outside in the winter air for much longer than she had intended Stephanie was about to get up to go back inside when the patio doors opened and Paul walked out wearing his own leather jacket. Sounding a little concerned he spoke as he closed the door, "Hey. You've been out here for ages, are you okay? Did you call your dad?"

Stephanie looked down at the patio table instead of at her boyfriend as she mumbled, "Yeah I called and uh..." The sentence did not get completed so Paul sat down next to her and asked, "Oh no, don't tell me he went off at you again?"

Stephanie still did not look up and continued mumbling, "No dad was okay when I talked to him but then I talked to mom and I uh... told her."

"You told your mom that you're pregnant over the phone?" Feeling Paul wrap an arm around her and gently pull her shoulders and head towards him to rest on his shoulder and chest Stephanie admitted, "I just blurted it out, I couldn't help it. I was crying and I felt so sad..."

Paul saw his girlfriend remove her head from his shoulder where it had only rested for a few seconds and as she looked at him he saw tears glistening in her eyes. Paul stood and took her right hand and pulled her gently to her feet as he said, "Come here." Embracing her tightly he continued, "Why are you crying Steph? Surely your mom was happy for us?"

Resting her head on Paul's shoulder again and feeling his arms around her at least provided some comfort, "She was, I think. But she's going to tell dad and I don't know how he's going to react. I miss them Paul and I want to go home and see them."

Paul's caring voice and the lack of hesitation in the offer he made caused her to burst in to tears again, "Then we'll go tomorrow." Despite it being the thing that she wanted to do more than anything in the world right now Stephanie still found herself trying to talk him out of it for some unexplainable reason, "I told them we would go Tuesday. We've been invited to stay here for two days Paul, we can't just walk out on your parents like that. You've not seen them for ages and..."

Paul held Stephanie's head gently to his shoulder with one hand and kept his other arm wrapped around her, keeping her tightly pressed against him almost as if he was afraid to let her go as he cut her off, "Steph you're crying about missing your parents and I can't bear to see you sad like this so we're going and we're going tomorrow. We'll surprise them, that will get things off to a good start and then we'll talk with your dad and things will be fine. We can fly back with him for Raw on Monday. Hopefully you'll be back working too. My parents will understand, we can come back next weekend or something."

Although her vision was blurred by her tears as she looked up and into Paul's eyes she saw the unconditional love that she felt for him returned in equal measure and it gave her a strange feeling in her chest. She knew without doubt that this was the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with, "You would do that for me?" The reply was simple, "Of course. I love you."

Stephanie reached up and kissed him, "I love you too. I don't know what I would do without you." Paul's embrace tightened again, "You never will be without me. Come on, let's go tell my parents and get a flight sorted for tomorrow." They walked towards the patio doors with an arm around each other's waists.

* * *

"Vince we need to talk," Linda said as she walked back into the living room after ending the call with her daughter. Her husband was slouching back on the couch and watching some kind of action movie on the TV. His uninterested response made clear that he was responding to the fact that she had said something but had not actually listened to what it was, "What? I'm watching this."

Linda solved that problem by walking over and turning off the TV which brought a sigh from Vince and a repeat of his previous question only now with irritation instead of disinterest, "What?"

"You're really irritating me lately Vince. I need to talk to you about Steph..."

Vince cut in, "Don't tell me you somehow managed to talk her out of coming home? Damn it Linda..." Linda stood in front of the TV with her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face. Vince considered that he had been seeing this sight quite often recently as she said, "I'm trying not to lose my temper with you again Vince, want to try making that a little easier?"

"Sorry. What is it?" Vince did not want yet another argument.

Linda was dreading this almost as much as her daughter would have been as she walked over to the couch and sat down next to her husband, "I'm going to tell you something and I want you to stay calm when I do. No shouting and no ranting Vince, please?"

Understandably Vince did not like the sound of that but now determined not to have another argument he agreed, "Fine, just tell me what you're trying to tell me."

Linda took her husbands hand and after a final pause of a few she made a start, "Steph was very upset about coming home because she thinks you're going to be angry..."

"I'm not, I already told her that."

"She told me that she's pregnant Vince."

Silence descended on the room.


	36. Chapter 36

Silence descended on the living room of Vince and Linda's house as she gave him the news. She watched as every part of her husband's body and face tensed. Before the explosion could take place she spoke to him gently, "She's not our baby girl any more Vince. She's twenty three, she's old enough to make her own decisions and she's with a man she loves. We're going to be Grandparents Vince, our first Grandchild. Please try to be happy about this."

The explosion was avoided as Vince seemed to deflate before her, "I'm really finding it hard Linda and you're wrong, she will always be our baby girl."

Linda put an arm around him and worked her magic on him with her soothing voice, "I know what you mean but we've got to let her make her own decisions now. She's not a kid any more. She wants to come home and she misses us as much as we miss her but she doesn't want to come here if you're going to rage at her or more importantly at Paul. You're going to be a Granddad to Steph and Paul's child Vince, surely that makes you happy if you really think about it? Imagine having our Grandchild running around this living room Vince, imagine how amazing that would be."

Vince was clearly trying hard to rid himself of his anger as he sat with his eyes closed and after a moment slowly let out a faltering breath, "A Grandchild? Granddad Vince?" After so many years together Linda knew her husband inside out and at this moment she knew that she had finally made a breakthrough as she beamed, "And Grandma Linda."

A hint of a smile began to appear on Vince's face, "A future WWF Champion? Or Women's Champion?"

Linda laughed, "Without a doubt. So you're pleased about this? You're not going to go wild at them when they show up on Tuesday?"

Vince shook his head , "I'm a stubborn old bastard Linda, even I know that but I'm not going to apologise for caring about our children. In answer to your questions yes I am pleased and no I won't go wild at them. I just want to see Steph and congratulate her and give her a great big hug."

Linda planted a soft kiss on her husbands cheek, "I'd rather you be stubborn and care than not care. When they get here you're going to shake hands with Paul and you're going to apologise to the man. I'm sure you've been treating him like crap at work, I know how you work when you're in that frame of mind."

Vince nodded and now sounded almost guilty, "Yeah I have. I should apologise. Uh... Linda, they're having a baby so they'll obviously need a place of their own."

"Obviously. What are you thinking?"

Vince finally managed a wide smile, "Maybe we could help them out with that. We did it for Shane and Marissa." Linda felt tears welling up in her eyes at her husband's drastic change of heart, "Oh Vince I didn't think of that. Yes, we have to do that."

* * *

As Paul and Stephanie walked back through the patio door into the living room of his parent's house it became immediately apparent that Stephanie had not made as good a job as they thought of hiding the fact that she had been crying as Patricia immediately asked with concern, "Stephanie are you okay?"

Paul took off his leather jacket as he answered for his girlfriend, "Guys Steph is missing her family real bad and we've decided to fly out tomorrow so that she can go home." Stephanie was hit by another wave of guilt at being the reason that Paul and his parents would not get to spend the time together that they had planned and she found herself starting to cry yet again as she said, "I'm so sorry."

At the sight of her tears Patricia was up quickly from the couch and made it to Stephanie faster than Paul could as he was hanging his jacket over the back of a chair and she hugged her, "Don't be silly sweetheart. If you want to go see your family then you need to go. We'll drive you to the airport tomorrow, right Paul?" This question was directed at her husband who answered, "Of course."

Although the hug from Patricia was appreciated Stephanie really only wanted Paul and she gently separated herself from the older woman and retreated into the comfort of her boyfriend's arms. "I don't know why I keep crying, I can't help it."

"We've had a lot of stress to deal with and you're missing your family. It's only natural Steph. You'll be fine tomorrow when you get home, I promise," Paul comforted as he once again held his girlfriend tightly. In response Stephanie whimpered, "You can't promise. You don't know what dad will say or do."

"You're right," Paul admitted reluctantly.

The rest of the afternoon and evening seemed to drag by so slowly for Stephanie. She liked Paul's parents a lot and she liked being around them and staying in their home but she simply did not want to be there right now. All she wanted to do was get to bed and sleep and wake up the next day knowing that she was going home. Despite this as she finally lay in bed she had started worrying unnecessarily about what would happen if they made their surprise visit and her parents were not home. It really was starting to drive her crazy, all she wanted to do was see her family. She decided that when they had talked to her mom and dad and then she would call Shane and ask him to come over too. Shane lived locally with his wife Marissa so hopefully there could be a reunion with the whole family. If only her dad could just be happy for her. Paul had already drifted off to sleep with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend's stomach as was already starting to become a habit that he had not even noticed himself. It was not something that he even did consciously, it just happened. He could not hear Stephanie's quiet plea, "Be happy for me dad, please."

* * *

It was hard to tell who was the most nervous of the two people in the back of the cab as it neared the end of its journey from the airport to Vince and Linda's house. Paul had never been there but he sensed that they must be near mostly from the size of the houses that he could see on the streets they were driving on but also from the increasing tension that he picked up on from his girlfriend who sat next to him looking out of the window on her own side of the cab. They both glanced at each other at the same time and Paul saw tension as plain as day on Stephanie's beautiful face as she asked him, "This will be okay won't it?" Paul was impressed with the confidence he managed to put into his voice when he did not feel any at all, "Of course. Your family miss you Steph, they'll be delighted to see you."

Stephanie looked sad, "It's not that part that I doubt. We're here."

Paul looked out of the window at the huge house that the cab had pulled up in front of. It was set back a fair distance from the street and had an immaculately paved driveway and an even better maintained lawn. There were lights on inside even though it was lunch time due to the dull winters day so clearly someone was home. The cars must have been in the large garage at the end of the driveway. The place looked incredible and yet Paul dreaded going anywhere near it. It had to be done though so he paid the cab driver and got out. Stephanie was already removing their bags from the trunk until Paul told her, "I'll get the bags, I don't want you carrying things."

Mainly due to the tension she had been feeling Stephanie laughed much more than was necessary, "I'm pregnant not disabled Paul, I can carry a bag." Paul took a bag in each hand and slammed the trunk closed and then the cab pulled away. "No you can't, not while I'm here to do it."

Stephanie beamed at Paul and he still felt the same way about that smile as he had the first time he saw it. She was so stunningly beautiful and now she was going to be the mother of his child, even if Vince went wild that was not going to change. This made Paul feel a lot better as they walked up the driveway. Stephanie took her keys from the pocket of her leather jacket but before they reached the front door Paul had an idea, "Don't walk in, ring the bell. It will make the surprise better."

With a nervous smile Stephanie did as he said. It seemed to Paul that it was taking forever for someone to answer the door but it was in fact less than twenty seconds before the door opened and Vince appeared. His eyes widened and a huge smile burst onto his face as he saw his daughter, "Steph! Oh god I'm so glad to see you!" Paul did not have to force himself to smile any more. Seeing how happy his girlfriend was as she rushed into her father's arms was all that he needed from today, he did not care if he got the riot act himself. Stephanie was blubbering again, "I missed you daddy. I love you."

Vince held his daughter and Paul noticed that he had not even been looked at yet as Vince said, "I missed you too sweetheart, I'm so happy you're home and I'm so happy for you that you're pregnant," finally Vince made eye contact with Paul, "Both of you."

As Paul smiled Stephanie burst into tears and seemed to wonder if she might have misheard, "You are?"

Vince kissed her forehead, "Of course I am. I'm sorry about how I've been acting." As he was saying this Linda came out the kitchen asking, "Who is it Vince? Oh my god, Steph!" Linda rushed over and Vince released Stephanie to embrace her mother and he returned his gaze to Paul. The two men stood face to face for a long moment and despite what Vince had already said Paul wondered what would come next but then Vince held out his hand, "I'm sorry. No hard feelings?"

Without hesitation Paul shook the man's hand firmly, "Of course not, no hard feelings. I can understand why you feel the way you do, or did, but we want the same thing Vince. We want Steph to be happy, she means the world to both of us." Stephanie had heard this exchange and she was now sobbing into her mother's shoulder but unlike all of the previous times she had cried in the last twenty four hours it was now from relief and happiness. Linda was trying to get her daughter to stop crying as Vince said to Paul, "Come in, it's freezing out here. Let's get some coffee on the go."

Paul walked into his girlfriend's home for the first time and closed the door. When this was done he looked around him and thought that this place was indeed incredible. His parents were by no means poor and their house was very nice but this was something else entirely. Linda had managed to calm Stephanie down and had produced some tissue from somewhere that Stephanie was using to wipe her eyes as she said, "It's so good to be home."

Following her husband into the kitchen Linda said, "Let's have some coffee and something to eat and we can talk, okay? I'm sure you have things that you want to say and we have something to tell you, right Vince?"

Vince's voice came from the kitchen, "That's right."

Stephanie was clearly wondering what that was supposed to mean as she walked over to Paul who was thinking the same thing. He felt strange inside as she smiled at him and he realised that no matter how long he had been in the relationship with Jo he had not loved her, not truly loved her anyway. What he felt now was true love as he looked into Stephanie's beautiful, perfect blue eyes, "I told you it would be fine. I love you."

As she nestled herself into him Stephanie kissed him, "I couldn't be happier than I am right now, I love you."


	37. Chapter 37

Bacon and egg sandwiches and coffee had been made for everyone by Linda and they had all taken seats around the large wooden table in the dining room. Paul eagerly attacked his sandwich as he heard Stephanie and Vince both begin to speak at the same time. They both stopped at the same time to avoid talking over each other and then with a laugh Stephanie decided to go first herself, "Please let me go first dad."

Vince smiled, "Okay, you first," before starting into his own sandwich. After eating the first mouthful of her sandwich Stephanie began, "Okay mom, dad. I've done a lot of thinking since we found out that I'm pregnant and I've realised that I need to grow up and stop acting like a kid. I'm with Paul and I'm going to have a child. I have responsibilities now and my stupid attitude has to go. I want to make things right with you guys and I want to come back to work for as long as I'm able. We're going to need all of the money we can get as we obviously need to buy a house. I want to apologise for the upset that I've caused in these last few weeks. I shouldn't have walked out like I did and I'm sorry." Silence descended on the room apart from the ticking of a clock as everyone took in this impassioned speech. Paul felt very proud of his girlfriend, Linda bit her bottom lip and Vince continued to smile as he chewed on his food. "Don't all speak at once."

After a moment Vince was the one to speak, "We may have had arguments Stephanie but you were certainly not the only one in the wrong. I'm very proud of you for what you just said and I need to apologise too. I already apologised to you outside Paul but again to both of you, I'm sorry."

Paul nodded but opted to remain silent. Stephanie was still nervous despite what she had already heard in the hallway earlier, "So you're happy for us? You're okay with us being together?" She still needed final and absolute confirmation. Linda spoke for the first time, "Of course we are sweetheart. In fact we've talked about it and we have an offer to make, right Vince?"

After finishing another bite of his sandwich Vince confirmed, "Right. When Shane and Marissa moved into their first house we helped them out with the money for it. We don't want you paying interest to some mortgage company. Find somewhere that you like and we'll buy it for you."

Paul could not believe what he was hearing and he held up a hand to stop Vince and cut him off even though his mouth was full of sandwich, "I can't let you guys do that. We can't take that kind of money from you, right Steph?"

"I think dad means to effectively loan us the money not to give it to us, right dad?" Stephanie asked with a smile.

"That's right. You can pay it back to us when you can afford it and it saves you paying any interest or worrying about things with the baby. We're not taking no for an answer either. As I said we did this for Shane and Marissa and now we're going to do it for you." Paul was stunned by this generosity as it was the last thing he had expected prior to making this visit. He had thought that getting fired or assaulted would be more likely than this. It was a cleverly thought out offer as Stephanie's parents must have known that they would both outright refuse to take the money for a house but now that they had been told that it would be repaid how could they refuse? Why would they refuse? He tried to think of a way to put his gratitude into words but failed, "I don't know what to say Vince, Linda. I really don't. Thank you." Stephanie added, "Yes, thank you both so much."

"That's all you need to say," Linda assured them. After draining her coffee cup she asked, "Would anyone like more coffee?" Nobody wanted any so Linda collected up the now empty plates and cups and with a smile, "I'll leave you to it, there's lots of housework to be done."

As his wife walked out of the room Vince looked at Stephanie, "You're serious about returning to work?" He was hoping that she was but things could not simply return to the way they had been before she walked out. A storyline reason for Stephanie's absence had needed to be put together quickly and therefore now Stephanie McMahon and Triple H's on screen marriage and relationship were over. If she returned to work it would not be as Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and she would not be able to work with Paul. Vince hoped that this was not about to lead to an argument as Stephanie confirmed eagerly, "Yeah I'm serious. We're going to need the money and besides I love my job and I miss it like crazy. I know I obviously can't do anything in the ring but I can still manage Paul and do talking segments in the ring."

This did indeed seem to be heading down the path that Vince had imagined so he tried to explain the situation as delicately as possible, "I'm glad that you want to come back and I don't have a problem with it in terms of your pregnancy but you two can't work together. We ended that angle when you quit so we'll have to come up with something else for you. I've already been thinking about this since you said you were coming home as I hoped that you would agree to come back to work and I have an idea for you."

"Oh dad," Stephanie whined, "You can get us back together somehow. Just have it that we fixed the marriage or something." Sensing that this might end up in an argument Paul intervened, "Your dad is right Steph, after some of the things they've had me say about you on screen it would look stupid if we got back together this quickly. Maybe we can do a storyline that gets us back together in the future but for right now let's listen to your dad's idea, okay? What's the idea Vince?"

Vince had expected that if anything Paul would take Stephanie's side in this so he was pleasantly surprised by what he had just heard. He hoped Stephanie would stick by what she had said earlier about growing up and did not start being stubborn again. She seemed to have taken Paul's advice and she looked to be listening as he put his idea across, "We already had those few segments before you quit where you were uh... protecting I guess you could call it, Kurt Angle's undefeated streak. We can have you return to manage Kurt. It will be good because we're going to put the European and Intercontinental titles on him soon."

Paul could not help himself being the first one to respond, "Both titles? Really?"

"Yeah, until Wrestlemania. So what about it Steph?" Successfully fighting a brief urge to continue whining and attempting to get her own way to continue to work with Paul Stephanie attempted to view the idea of working with Kurt from a professional perspective. She had to admit that the basics of the idea made sense. There had been a hint of chemistry written between the two characters in the previous angle before she had quit and if Kurt was getting a push as big as her dad had just said then having a manager with him made sense. She would rather work with Paul but they would still be at the arena together so she reasoned that it was not a huge deal to actually perform with someone else. In any case she was sure that her dad would could write them back together soon. "I guess you haven't mentioned this to Kurt yet?"

"No," Vince admitted. "I'll do that tomorrow but he'll like the idea. Why wouldn't he?"

Stephanie smiled, "Okay. Okay I like it. You're okay with this right Paul?"

"Of course. It's a good idea and it will be great for you to be back on TV."

Vince smiled too, "Great so we're all agreed? I'll get this written and we can have you back a week from tomorrow."

"We're all agreed. Dad I want to call Shane and tell him that I'm home and ask him to come over with Marissa."

"Good idea but ask them to come this evening. You've just volunteered your mom to cook dinner for everyone."

That was exactly what happened. Linda already had a large joint of beef cooking and it was big enough to feed the whole family for dinner. Stephanie made the call to her brother and apologised for ignoring his calls for so long. After being assured that it was all forgotten as long as she was okay Stephanie told Shane that she was back home and that Paul was with her and that everyone would like it very much if he and Marissa could come over for dinner. The other bigger piece of news was obviously left to be delivered face to face. Stephanie knew that Shane would be delighted, he adored his little sister and she was sure that he liked Paul. She chastised herself for assuming that Shane had ratted to her dad when he had seen her kissing Paul in the hotel lobby that night. She knew deep down that Shane would not do something like that to her.

* * *

Later that afternoon Linda had made a start on the rest of the food that would be served with the beef and asked Vince for a hand as it was a rush to get everything ready before Shane and Marissa showed up. This left Paul and Stephanie alone in the expansive living room relaxing on a black leather couch with Stephanie resting her head on his shoulder. Yet again Paul had a hand on his girlfriend's stomach without realising it. Stephanie had noticed that he kept doing it but she did not say anything. She found it adorable but she was afraid that if she commented on it he might stop doing it. She was slightly nervous to bring up her next question in case there was a disagreement but it had to be talked about sooner or later, "Paul, where are we going to look for our house?" Her mind was immediately put at ease. This man truly was amazing, in fact he was perfect in every respect. His simple response was, "It'll have to be near here won't it? You need to be near the office for your day job and we'll need one of our families to help us with this one," as he said it he squeezed Stephanie's stomach very gently with his fingers and the gesture and the words he had spoken melted her heart and she had to try hard to prevent tears filling her eyes again, "But you'll be away from your family."

Paul shrugged slightly, "I'm away from them now. It's not ideal but this is what we have to do. As long as I have you I have more than enough to keep me happy. And then when the baby comes... Hey, when can we find out if we have a boy or a girl? I don't know anything about this stuff."

Stephanie smiled, "That's not for some time yet. I think it's about twenty weeks when you can learn the sex."

"Twenty weeks?" Paul sounded disappointed almost as if he wanted to know tomorrow. "How many are you now do you think?"

"Maybe four or five. Don't worry there's plenty to look forward to."

Paul beamed, "I already am. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. We both are."

"I'm seriously doubting I'll enjoy every minute but I do know what you mean." At that moment the doorbell rang, Shane and Marissa had arrived. "Time to give out the good news again."


	38. Chapter 38

Paul had previously met Shane's wife Marissa on a couple of brief occasions. She had spent a short time working for WWF as a backstage interviewer. She was a beautiful woman there was no doubt about that, she had long dark hair not unlike Stephanie's and a brilliant smile which was now on display as she walked into the living room followed by her husband. Following Stephanie's example Paul stood to great them and hugs, handshakes and greetings were exchanged all round. It was not really a great surprise to Paul but he still felt relief that Shane seemed to be friendly towards him and pleased about the fact that his sister was in a relationship with him. They all sat and after a few minutes of catch up chatter Stephanie took in the fact that her mom and dad had deliberately not joined them in the room and she glanced at Paul and he nodded slightly. This was the time to tell Shane and Marissa their news. "Guys, Paul and I have something that we would like to tell you."

Shane exaggerated a wink at his wife jokingly, "Here it goes, she's going to tell us she's pregnant now." He laughed but then stopped as his sister beamed back at him. Marissa's voice was a little louder than necessary out of excitement, "Steph?"

Stephanie's grin got wider and Paul was now wearing one too as she announced, "It's true, I'm pregnant. We found out Friday."

"Oh my god," Shane let out a shocked laugh. His words were echoed by Marissa as he stood and hurried over to his sister who also rose from the couch she had been sitting on and accepted his hug and kiss on the cheek. "I didn't think this would be something that you would beat me to. I'm so pleased for you. Both of you."

After releasing Stephanie to accept congratulations from his wife Shane turned to Paul and decided against a handshake, going instead straight for a hug, "Congratulations man. I know how happy you make each other and I'm delighted for you." Returning the hug and surprisingly not feeling uncomfortable in doing s Paul said, "Thanks Shane, really appreciate that buddy. We can't wait, we can't even believe it yet really. Well I can't anyway."

When everyone had returned to their seats the conversation was quickly dominated by the two women excitedly babbling about babies and everything associated with them. Paul was happy to make idle chatter with Shane after informing him that Stephanie also intended to return to work. He would also sneak an occasional glance at his girlfriend. She was so happy that it almost radiated from her. The time seemed to fly by until Vince and Linda had served the food and everyone was called into the dining room to begin the meal. Seemingly out of nowhere a few minutes later Shane asked, "Dad you remember that idea you had for Wrestlemania before uh... a few weeks ago? The four way elimination match?"

"Shane every time you come over here you end up talking business with your dad," Linda groaned.

"Do we really have to?" Marissa chirped in, "She's right, every time it's the same."

Despite the women's protests Vince grinned, "I remember it. You and I are the only ones who know about it as I obviously didn't think we could do it now. You're thinking we could do it?"

"What idea is this?" Paul asked after swallowing a mouthful of the amazing beef. Linda looked at Marissa and shook her head. The men were lost from any other possible conversation now, this much was obvious. Stephanie also listened eagerly as she had picked up on the fact that her involvement was required in whatever this idea was. Shane explained, "Dad thought up a four way match for the title and there would be a McMahon managing each competitor. We'll have to change it though because you can't be with Paul, Steph. Maybe we..."

"I'm managing Kurt now," Stephanie helped out, "Is he in this thing?"

Vince now took over, "He wasn't but I guess he could be. We would have to scrap the idea of giving him the two titles but this idea is better. So we have Steph with Kurt..."

Stephanie cut in and tried once more to get what she really wanted, "It's a real shame we can't figure it out that I can get back with Paul."

"Maybe we can," Shane said, "I guess I'm going to be with Paul, I know you're going to be with The Rock, dad and you want mom with Mick Foley." Linda had not really been listening until now and as she heard that she was to be involved she was reluctant, "You want me out there for the Wrestlemania main event? Vince, really?"

"Relax," Vince placated her, "We'll have Mick eliminated first, you won't be out there long."

Shaking her head slightly Stephanie exclaimed, "I don't know how you can not enjoy being out there mom, I miss it like you wouldn't believe and it's only been a few weeks. Shane you said maybe we can, what did you mean?" The men had all virtually stopped eating now as they were lost in the conversation as Shane continued, "The plan was for Triple H to retain the title..."

Unable to help himself Paul exclaimed, "I'm going to win the Wrestlemania main event? This is awesome."

With a smile Shane continued once more, "Yeah. Dad, I know you wanted it to come down to Triple H and The Rock but what if we have it come down to Triple H and Angle and Angle has the match won but Steph pulls the referee out of the ring and stops the count. Angle goes over to the ropes and leans through yelling at her like, "What the hell are you doing?" and Steph slaps him. Angle turns around and boom! Pedigree, Triple H wins and Steph gets in the ring, big celebration, hugging, kissing, all the rest of it."

"Can we do that dad? Please?" Stephanie almost begged. After a few moments Vince began to nod his head, "Yeah, I like it. Okay, that's what we'll do."

"Now eat your food," Linda ordered with a laugh from Marissa. The conversation returned to family matters as everyone resumed eating and inevitably the subject of babies did not take long to come back up. Everyone apart from Stephanie drank wine over dinner and dessert and as she looked around she felt warm inside as there was so much smiling and laughter around her. Just two days before she had been terrified that she was about to be a pregnant woman left on her own. For some irrational reason she had thought that Paul would be angry at the news and would leave her and that her family would want nothing to do with her either. She could not have been more wrong and now everything was great. It was time to look for a house to buy with the man of her dreams so that they could raise their family in it and she could not wait. Life was perfect.

END


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